Hebrews 11:13-16 – These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

THEME OF THE DAY: HOMESICK FOR HEAVEN. It is a memory as vivid as if it happened yesterday. I was a young teenager of nineteen having been in the Navy a mere seven months. Here I was in a big city called Philadelphia boarding a plane to fly me across the Atlantic Ocean to a place I only knew from history and a world map. Many hours later, the plane landed in Naples, Italy. Soon after, I was dropped off on a pier, and stared at a big naval ship in the harbor that would be my home for three years. As I walked up the pier, two thoughts flooded my mind – what in the world did I get myself into and am I ever so homesick.

I am sure each of have experienced both of those emotions, but particularly, homesickness. Recall the last time we were away from home and that feeling it brought upon us. It was powerful and consuming. It flooded our minds with joyful memories and sadness of what is now missed. Now think of another form of homesickness; the one which should be in every Christian’s heart and thinking on a daily basis and increases with intensity as life goes on. It is the longing or homesick feeling for heaven. Okay. There may be a few readers out there who are ready to challenge me with something like this, “Jim, I am too busy with all my responsibilities from family to vocation that I simply don’t have time to be homesick for heaven. I don’t have the luxury to think on heaven with all the demands upon me.” Really? I mean really? Do we think the Apostle Paul was a busy man? Off the scale busy. I am bold enough to say not a single one of us has a schedule in life that would exceed the fullness and busyness of this man. Do we think he was too busy to long for heaven? Not at all. In fact, he was homesick and thought about his home in heaven, not sometime, but all the time. It is what motivated and energized him.

Beloved, living with “heaven homesickness” is the Christian life. It is the way we are to live, not occasionally, but all the time. The “homesick for heaven” Apostle wrote, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:21-23). Heaven is not just a place we are going. It is our home; real home. It is where our lives are already seated in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-6). Should we be living life focused on the things of this world, and comfortable, happy with living in this world, something is terribly wrong with us. Our spiritual understandings of both this world and the attitude of a Christian living in this world is lacking Biblical knowledge. God’s Word tells us we live in ‘enemy territory’, full of spiritual dangers, and under the control of the god of this world, the devil. This world is not a playground but a battleground. And it is not our home. A Christian should never settle into this life with a sense of comfortable permanency. For a Christian to live oblivious of this truth is a recipe for spiritual disaster. When a Christian lacks homesickness for heaven and fails to live life knowing this world is not our home, a host of spiritual problems arise. We will experience worldliness, loss of first love for Christ, loss of love for His church, loss of a sense of Gospel mission, a whole lot of stress, paralyzing anxiety, unhealthy fear, and lack of assurance of God’s presence. And perhaps the worst product of a Christian failing to live with heaven as our home is the confusing testimony of faith in Jesus we present. He calls us out of the world to influence the world not become like the world” (John 17:15-19).

Did I adjust to living in Italy? Sure and I enjoyed it, but I never lost that homesick feeling. Italy wasn’t my home and for us who follow Christ, neither is this world.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to daily remember this earth is not my home. I live in a hostile land away from my true home.”

QUOTE: “If we find ourselves comfortable and quite at home in this world, something is terribly wrong spiritually”