Christ First Forum

[iAre You Homesick?

I've been living down here in Little Rock, Arkansas, for about two months now. Several people have asked me if I ever get homesick for Omaha. My simple answer is always, "No, not really."

Even though I lived in Nebraska and Iowa all my life, I never grew attached to the region to the point that I would ever long for it. Arkansas is my current home, and if the Lord leads me to live somewhere else, that place will be my home as well.

There are some things about Nebraska that I will miss. I had great Christian neighbors where I lived in West Omaha. And, when it's blazing hot down here in the south, I'll probably wish I could enjoy some of the cooler weather up north.

Of course, there are always trade-offs that tend to balance each other out. I've never lived in Los Angeles, a land of nearly perfect weather. But because of the high crime and horrendous traffic congestion, I have no desire to move to that city.

There is no ideal place to live. Every place you go, you are going to find an earth totally contaminated with sin. Children are starving to death, people are suffering from war and pestilence, "gay marriage" is legal in several states, babies are murdered in their mother wombs, and there are so many heartbreaks.

Some people try to escape the world by moving out to the country. I have found this doesn't work because there is no place to escape from yourself. I'm only 44 years old, and I can feel the effects of the fallen nature on my body. We are directed to be beacons of light to this lost world. You can't be a beacon while hiding in a cave.

If I am homesick for anything, it would be for my heavenly home. I've never been there, but I trust from the Bible's description that it is a wonderful place. Next to it, nothing on this planet is worth yearning after.

I found a poem on the web that talked about being "Homesick for Heaven." Here are a few lines:

I read of the wonders of Heaven above,
In the place He's preparing for me.
No sickness or sorrow can enter that land,
And I wanted its beauty to see.


Yet I needed Christ's help just to cope with each task
That life with its cares sent my way.
Through triumphs and failures that filled up my years,
My Heaven seemed ages away.


But now that I'm living my winter of life,
I find not a day will go by
Without precious thoughts of my Heavenly home,
And my meeting with Christ in the sky.


I'll see all my loved ones who've gone on before,
And I'll sing with the Heavenly throng.
I'll have a new body with no aches or pains,
And I'll worship my Lord all day long.


Each day brings me closer to life's curtain call,
When the face of my Lord I will see.
I'll no longer be homesick, for I will be home,
And with Jesus forever I'll be.


One of the good things about being a student of Bible prophecy is that we know the troubles of this life are quickly drawing to a close. The homesickness we feel is tempered by the fact that we know our departure is coming up just around the corner.

I think the easiest way for people to know if they are genuine believers is to ask themselves if they are ever homesick to see their Savior. A true test of your spiritual condition might be to ask yourself if you can say with true sincerity, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus.”

"Now we know that if the earthly tent [physical body] we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling" (2 Corinthians 5:1-2 NIV).

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3-7 ESV).
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