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It was Pliny the Elder that first said, “Home is where the heart is.” But Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. said it a little better: “Where we love is home—home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” There is something special about home. If you have ever been gone for a lengthy amount of time, you know how special home is.
The concept of home, for most people, is defined by past experiences. If you move to a new place, it doesn’t become home immediately. Sometimes it can take months or even years for a new location to actually feel like home. For some, it never occurs because the new house never feels like “home.”
In 2 Corinthians 5:8, Paul said, “…we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” His choice of words is interesting. He doesn’t say at the Lord’s home but rather “at home with the Lord.” In other words, home isn’t here in this body. In the first five verses of that chapter Paul describes the earthly body as a “tent.” It is a temporary dwelling place. It was never intended by God to be permanent. Paul told the Philippian brethren that their “citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20–21).
The words “This World is not My Home” are certainly biblical, but aren’t they difficult to live up to? How do you make heaven your home when you haven’t even seen it? How do you truly act like a stranger and sojourner on earth when your entire life it has been your home? Is that even possible?
It is possible. What makes a place your home is the heart. That’s what both Pinly the Elder and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. focused on. And so did Jesus. He said it this way:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19–21, ESV)
When you have been away from home for a while, there is a longing to return. That longing occurs because your heart is focused on home. What if you had that same desire to go to heaven? That’s exactly how heaven can be your home despite never having experienced one moment of its glory.
As you go throughout your week, remember to focus on heaven. Make it the focus of your heart. After all, “home is where the heart is…”
