YOU’RE NOT HOME YET!
2 Corinthians 5:1-2, 6-8 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
[2] For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
[6] Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
[7] (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
[8] We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
My daughter has been asking me questions lately about missions and the mission field. Over the last several months after telling her what I believe to be everything I know about mission work, I began to do some study and research on missionaries. I came across an illustration about a missionary couple that had given over 40 years of their life to missions in Africa. On their return home to America, they happen to be on the same ship that President Roosevelt was on returning home from an African hunting trip. When they reached the shore in America, they noticed there was a great crowd that had gathered to meet the President. There were cameras everywhere and great excitement to catch a glimpse of the President. As the missionaries began to look over the crowd, they noticed that not even ONE single person was there to welcome them home.
The man was deeply saddened and shared with his wife that he could not understand why not even one person had come to welcome them home. They had given their entire lives to the Lord’s work; they had lost their two children to jungle diseases, and lived as paupers so that the Lord’s Kingdom would be built. They returned home with only a few items of necessity for they had given away everything they owned. Tired and weary from their long journey, and having no home to go to they found a small hotel room to spend the night. However, rest did not come for the missionary for his spirit was broken, he was hurt. The wife encouraged her bewildered husband to talk to the Lord concerning the matter. He prayed steady through the night pouring his heart out to the Lord, sharing with HIM how he could not understand why, after forty years of faithful service, not even one person came to meet them or to welcome them home. As the sun rose the next morning the wife awoke to the sound of her husband singing. She quickly asked him if he had spoken with the Lord about the matter. He told her that he indeed had asked the Lord why there was no one to welcome them home and the wife asked, “What did HE tell you?” The man replied, “He told me, you’re not home yet!” Well Hallelujah! That does something in my soul friend!
How powerful it is when we receive a timely word from the Lord. The times when we need reminding that our forwarding address is not found upon the earth, for it is yonder in heaven and what a glorious homecoming it will be, for on the shores of glory a great gathering has already begun! They are gathering even now, from every tribe, every nation, every tongue and on that great and glorious homecoming day they will sing with a mighty chorus, the song of the REDEEMED! The song those who have made it HOME can sing!
There will be no sorrow on that day, no loneliness to touch the heart, for there will be one face in the crowd that day that will radiate from all others, the face of Jesus! The face of the One who longs to take you by the hand and lead you across the river and show you what HE has prepared. Jesus will not miss your arrival, for HE has been anticipating it even before you were born. Heaven is your eternal home, and here we are just passing through. It is true, that home is where the heart is. May your heart be found looking not to the shores of this earth but to the shores of glory! My Christian friend, home is where Jesus is…YOU’RE NOT HOME YET!!!
Bro. Lawrence Longworth Isaiah 61:1 “the opening of the prison to them that are bound;”
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