FFH - Found A Place - Devotional #10

Far From Home
by Jennifer Deibler

Read John 14:1-4

The hardest thing for me about being in FFH and traveling full time is the many days per year Jeromy and I have to spend away from our home in Nashville. Ministry certainly is rewarding, and seeing people come to know, and grow closer to, Jesus is amazing, but there is something special about walking in the front door of our house for a few days off. Our home is truly a blessing from the Lord. In late 1997 I approached Jeromy with the idea of buying our first house and suggested that we start looking. Little did he know that I had already been thumbing through real-estate magazines getting ideas on where we should spend our first home-owning years. Jeromy quickly dismissed the idea as premature. He felt it would be at least a few more years until our monthly rent payment became a monthly mortgage payment.

However, with the Lord's leading, I persisted and we began to talk further about the possibilities of owning a home of our own. Jeromy says I used the "Hitler water-drip method" to wear him down. I say he wised up and heard from the Lord. Finally, after a lot of talking and praying, he said, "I think we can make it work, but it's your project. Tell me when you have something for us to look at." That was all I needed to hear, and from that moment on every hour we spent off the road I spent house hunting.

In November of 1998 we were handed the keys to our new home in Franklin, TN, a suburb of Nashville. Although it poured down rain the entire time, it was one of the most special days of our lives. My mom and I quickly unpacked the boxes brought from our apartment and began decorating. Even before our dishes were put away in our kitchen cabinets there were pictures on the walls and knickknacks displayed throughout the house. Since that day, decorating our home has been a favorite hobby of mine. It's a way of expressing myself and allowing my personal creativity to come out in my own way. Our house has become more than bricks and mortar and a roof over our heads, it has become our home - a place of rest and security. A place where we long to be and that we hate to leave. It's where we laugh and cry. It's where we will someday bring our newborn baby for it's first night in it's own crib. It's our home, and I'm beginning to understand what that means.

Lately, however, the Lord has been convicting me about home much time I spend focusing on this earthly home. He's been revealing to me that I am much too reliant on material things and that those distractions are keeping me from longing for my eternal home.

Application

As comfortable as this world may sometimes seem, it is not our home. We are, in essence, far from home. The Lord allows us to be surrounded by the things that bring us happiness but He never intends for those things to replace a longing for our ultimate resting place in Heaven. We read in 2 Timothy that there is even a special crown in store for those who long for the coming of the Lord and our eternal rest and security with Him. God is not displeased when material things bring us joy, but He is displeased when those things keep our eyes from looking past this world into the hope of the promised eternity. Home is where the heart is. And Jesus told us that where our heart is, is where our treasure will be. Is your heart set on home, or are you storing up treasures that, like our earthly homes, will someday pass away?

Prayer

"Dear Lord, thank You so much for the ways You provided for my material needs. Help me to remember that they are gifts from You. Help me never to lose sight of my eternal home and to not be distracted from it by things of this world. Give me a longing for Your coming and the place that You are preparing for me in Heaven."

For further thought and discussion

1. Do I spend more time thinking about material things than heavenly things?

2. What distractions in my life can I remove to help me to see past this world into the hope of the promised eternity?


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