A young woman paced the sidewalk outside the pastor’s home. He and his wife were preparing for a picnic in the park. They noticed woman’s tentative attempts to approach their door.
F.W. Boreham wrote about his experience that day. Realizing that the woman needed something, he invited her inside. She poured out the heart-rending tragedy of her baby’s sudden death. She needed help with the burial. She confided that the baby was born out of wedlock, and was deformed. That changed nothing for the pastor. The next day he, his wife, and the woman laid the baby to rest during a driving rainstorm in a barren place.
The woman found a home with Boreham’s church because they treated her with love, care, and respect. She must have known that the cemetery was not her baby’s home. Ravi Zacharias comments, “The respect shown in a cemetery comes not because it is home, but because it is where we bid believing loved ones a temporary good-bye. Jesus came from the Father and returned to the Father to prepare a place for you and for me. That’s home.” That’s your destiny when you believe Jesus.
He refers to Jesus’ words, “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). Jesus did not just speak of life after death philosophically, but he demonstrated it physically. He assured Martha that her brother would live again saying, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies” (John 11:26). Then he raised Lazarus. Later he raised Himself from the dead.
This life beyond, in a prepared place, is where community, reunions, and love happen. Isn’t that what a home is? This place is not just for being with loved ones again, but being with the One who loves us. Jesus wants you to be with Him.
Stuart Hine was a pre-WWII missionary to the Russian people. They sang a hymn that he translated to English. After the war, a displaced man told how he despaired of finding his wife, and longed to meet her again in heaven. That inspired Hine to pen another verse to the hymn. When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration, and there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!
You worship a great God who rescues you from the bounds of time and decay! You can travel lightly on this earthly journey with the confirmation that you have a place to call home, forever.