“Longing for Home”
John 17:16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
(Molly Knauer)
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Most (if not all) of us have felt homesick at some point. When we are in a new place with unfamiliar people, we long for the safety and comfort of our home. As Matt and I continue settling into life in Pittsburgh, I have been thinking a lot about this idea of home. The Christian life is—in a sense—a life of homesickness because we are living in a world that is not our true home (c.f., John 17:16). In the beginning, God created the Garden of Eden as a home for Adam and Eve, and it wasn’t the lush trees or the ripe fruit that made this home so special. The Garden was special because God Himself dwelt in a direct relationship with His people. We, however, know that Adam and Eve could no longer dwell in a direct relationship with God once they disobeyed Him. Yet, God has built the way back home again through Jesus (c.f., John 14:6).
Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has restored us to a right relationship with God by acting as our Mediator… but we are not yet in our true home (c.f., John 17:11). In John 14, Jesus says to His disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am you may be also” (vv. 2-3). You and I should feel homesick as we await the place that Jesus is preparing for His people. We can often long for the familiarity, safety, and comfort of our earthly homes when we are in a new place with unfamiliar people, but I am curious if we also feel a sense of homesickness when we experience the effects of sin.
We—as those who are not of this world—ought to regularly feel a sense of homesickness for our perfect, eternal home where there will be no more crying, no more pain, and no more death as we dwell in a direct relationship with God forever. Jesus has sent the Spirit to dwell inside God’s people as a pledge of our perfect, earthly home to come,: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17). The Spirit has made His home in the hearts of those of us who believe in Jesus, and He helps us in our weakness. As the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8, “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (v. 26). You and I can (and should) be grateful for a tangible feeling that reminds us that we are not yet in our true home. When we experience the effects of sin, feeling this sense of homesickness and not knowing exactly what to pray, we can be confident that the Spirit is praying on our behalf.