I had been asked to speak in our church’s summer series. The topic I had was, What more is there to life? The theme of the series was, Questions That Shape Belief, and some of the other topics/questions were, Who is Jesus and Why did He die? and Why and How do I pray?
As you can see, my question was not quite as straightforward, but I do believe it belonged in this category because it was a basic question and everyone, sooner or later, asks it. Personally, I’ve been waking up with this question on my mind for years—not every morning, but some mornings. I don’t know if it’s a way of subconsciously reorienting myself after being roused out of my dreams or just a reboot to start the day.
In my lesser moments, the question is a haunting one that challenges my faith. After all, life here is good, I like it, and I have trouble wrapping my mind around eternity . . . so why change things? That’s the way the flesh looks and thinks. But in my better moments I know better. I recognize, as the song says, This world is not my home I’m just a-passing through. We came from God and we’re going to God and until we’re there—we’re not Home! We might be content, we might be comfortable, but we’re not Home.
There’s another song about home written and sung by Joe South. The song is Don’t It Make You Want to Go Home?, and its lyrics are evocative of the South I grew up in.
The whippoorwill roost on the telephone pole
As the Georgia sun goes down.
It’s been a long time
But I’m glad to say that I’m
Goin’ back down to my hometown.
Goin’ down to the Greyhound station
Gonna buy me a one-way fare.
The Good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise
By tomorrow I’ll be right there.
The chorus goes:
Don’t it make you wanna go home, now?
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
All God’s children get weary when they roam
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
I don’t know that when he sang, All God’s children get weary when they roam, he meant it in a spiritual sense—but it certainly works. There is within us, the longer we live, a holy longing for more than what this life offers. In our heart of hearts, we yearn for something transcendent and eternal—where disease, disability, and death don’t have a voice. We have a deep desire for something psychology, technology, entertainment, and science are all powerless to provide. Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us God has “set eternity in the human heart” and He is the only One who can give us what it is that we really need—an eternal home with Him.
Home. In baseball that’s where you start from and if everything goes right, it’s also where you end up. That same thing is true for life. We came from God, and if we’ve embraced His Son, Jesus, we’re going back to Him.
What more is there to life? To go home and be with our Father!
For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 5:4-5).
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 