HOMESICK

“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”    C.S. Lewis

"For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not onlythe creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. Forwho hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Romans 8:22-25 ESV

The saying goes, "there's no place like home." I must confess that I am homesick. I long for home. Home represents a safe place, a free place, a secure place, a place of love and joy, a place of peace and rest, aplace of refuge, and so much more. I left what I called home in San Clemente over a year ago and made my new home in Maui. I confess that felt homesick since the day I came to Maui. But, I have learned great lessons this past year about home. Every day I have been on island I have thought about home and what it has meant to me. I longed for it so much that I left Maui to go back to what I called home in San Clemente. 

As soon as I got there I realized I had no home there anymore. My ex wife was long gone. My kids were grown up and living there own lives. My house of 33 years was occupied by another family. The two churches that I used to pastor had moved on with new pastors. Everything was changed and I truly felt "homeless". I had no home any longer in San Clemente. A deep sorrow and lonliness filled my heart. 

So I returned back to my new home in Maui. Though I live here, I never feel like its home. So what do I do with this longing for home? It is here that I have begun to understand.  

Have you unfulfilled longings that are unsatisfied? Deep inside I think we all feel there is something more, something bigger, better, and grander than what meets the eye. 

We all long for many things: beauty, happiness, joy, love, good health, harmonious relationships, meaningful lives, safety, security, peace, and prosperity. Sadly, most of us have found that we cannot even find fulfillment in these in a fallen world and when we do, we find both that we can lose them in an instant or we find that they in themselves do not satisfy us. 

This is because deep inside we know that there is something more. We join all of creation with this insatiable longing for something more. The apostle Paul says that all of creation is groaning for this "something more" (Romans 8:22). We know what we see and experience is neither ultimate nor is it final. We know there is more.

I believe that all of our longings point to what is our true, deepest, and ultimate longing, which is for a home in heaven. We long for heaven because it is there that Jesus lives, rules, and reigns. Heaven is a world of perfect, ineffable, infinite, and eternal love. Here on earth we see but black and white, but there there is color. Here we live in shadow, but we know that there it is substance and light. Heaven is our ultimate destination toward which we are all moving. 

When we see and experience for ourselves,heaven for what it truly is, we will become aware of how big, grand, and glorious it is in comparison to anything that this world has to offer us. Whatever there was in this old life will be swallowed up by the beauty and grandeur of the real thing. All this will happen because of who is there; we will see God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

We only see glimpses of heaven here, as if looking through a portal; but they are only that, glimpses. For example, miracles and supernatural events and experiences provide such glimpses to be sure. We all long for miracles. I have seen several extraordinary ones in my life. The apostle John referred to miracles as "signs" (Ex. John 2:11,23). Signs are pointers that point beyond themselves to something else.  The feeding of the 5000 was a "sign", for the people who ate that day became hungry again. It is Jesus who is the true bread, Jesus who is the true life. The true miracle of every miracle is Jesus. He is more than a sign, He is ultimate reality and the source of all light and all life.
 Heaven is our true home and the home we really long for. Jesus is the way to it (John 14:6) and Jesus is the destination. So the longing for home iis really a longing for heaven. We want more than healing of our illnesses, more than bread that will satisfy our appetites, more than an exotic trip that will satisfy our craving for beauty and peace. We want more than marriage, family, and friendships which satisfy our deep need to love and be loved. Our longings run deeper than temporary satisfactions.Our deepest desires are not for miracles/signs but for what the miracles/signs point to. We want heaven, we want Jesus. 

C.S. Lewis understood this and wrote, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”    

May we never make signs and this world substitutes for our deepest longings no matter what good or bad this life and this world bring us. Jonathan Edwards exhorts us to stay focused on the reality of heaven, God, and Jesus:  

 

"The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives. or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. They are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the ocean. Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labour for, or set our hearts on anything else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?"

 

Longing for home,

Pastor Bill