I’ve been asked to speak in our church’s summer series. The topic I have is, What more is there to life? The theme of the series is, Questions That Shape Belief, and some of the other topics/questions are, Who is Jesus and Why did He die? and Why and How do I pray?
As you can see, my question is not quite as straightforward, but I do believe it belongs in this category because it is 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. I’ve spoken about him and his influence in my life during my formative years. The song he wrote that I’m thinking of is Don’t It Make You Want to Go Home? If you grew up in the South (or any rural area), the lyrics (along with South’s vocals) make the song irresistibly evocative.
Whoa, the whippoorwill roost on the telephone pole
And the Georgia sun goes down.
Well, 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.
Good Lord’s willin’ and the creeks don’t rise
By tomorrow I’ll be right there.
Then there’s the chorus (Joe South knew how to write a hook!).
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’s within us, a holy longing for more than what this life offers. We yearn for something transcendent and eternal—where death, disease, and disability don’t have a voice. We have this deep desire for something our psychology, technology, 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 