For some time now the Lord has been teaching me lots about the words home and house. A house is a building in which a family lives, a structure or shelter. A home is a space or environment that provides comfort, refuge, rest, safety, peace and love. As I meditate on Gods word I find that He is all of these things. He is a house. He is also a home. He is the House in which I am build on and there is no place I would rather be like the song “Set a Fire”. A house that isn’t built on the foundations of Christ and His truth can just be a house that never feels like a home. I have caught the way these two words are also used by other and by me in a sentence. When my team and I talk about the different things we miss or we look forward to after the race we often say ‘when I get home I will eat Chick-fil-a everyday.” Or when I get home I want to… fill in the blank.” Notice that my teammate done actually live and dwell in Chick-fil-a, they are talking about an existing space in which they find comfort in. As I have been studying these two words I have noticed the different ways they are used in scripture. If you flip to Haggai 1: 2-9(see bottom for all scripture references) the Lord uses the word house in reference to the actual structure of His temple which was left in ruins while the people lived in luxurious houses. In this passage the word home is used once and it was used when referred to the people bring their harvest into their houses to provide food. As most of us are failure with sit around a table to eat with loved ones thus creates a safe, comfortable, loving environment, a home. If we flip to Deuteronomy 24: 1-2, 5(see bottom) there is another very clear picture of the different ways the Lord uses the two words. In the first few verses He uses the word house when there is division between a man and a woman and in a household. However, later in the passage when there is an effort made to not be divided he uses the word home. I find this so beautiful that when there is unity and peace in a household it is referred to as a home, but when there is a lack of those things it is referred to as a house. Doesn’t this exemplify the God that we serve? He is not a fractured, dissociated trinity. He is the Prince of Peace for a reason. Again in 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 we see the way the word home is used instead of house. Verse 6 says “So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord.” The phrase homesick seeps out of this verse; we are always going to feel lost, uncomfortable, and disconnected here in this life till we are completely whole and lacking nothing in heaven with the Father. Heaven may be a structure and our house for eternity but the foundations of being complete with the dwelling of Christ makes it the HOME that we long for. In 2 Corinthians 5:8 we find the truth of this “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.” This earth is and life is a house away from home.
The reality of what I have been learning is in the midst of me being homesick; I will continue to be homesick even when I return to the States. However, I can build every area of my life on His foundations to invite His children to taste and see a piece of home. As believers we can be and create a temporary space that feels like home by building our faith, our love, our relationships, our conversations, our actions, our house, and our lives up on His Word in this lifetime. At the beginning of this trip I said that homesick would be a new concept to me, but I have come to find out it is a rather a familiar reality for us all.
– Haggai 1:2-9 (NLT) “2. This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The people are saying, ‘the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord’” 3. Then the Lord sent this message through the prophet Haggai: 4. “why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins? 5. This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! 6. You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. You wages disappear as though you are putting them in pockets filled with holes! 7. “This is what the Lord of heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! 8. Now go up in the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. 9. You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses.”
– Deuteronomy 24: 1-2, (NLT) “ Suppose a man marries a woman but she does not please him. Having discovered something wrong with her, he writes a document of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house. 2. When she leaves his house, she is free to marry another man.
– Deuteronomy 24:5 (NLT) “A newly married man must not be drafted into the army or be given any other official responsibilities. He must be free to spend one year at home bringing happiness to the wife he has married.”
– 2 Corinthians 5: 6-9 (NLT) “6. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. 7. For we live by believing and not by seeing. 8. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. 9. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please Him.”
