What does “home”
mean to you? Interesting question. It was posed in the Bible study I’m doing at
church. This week the question was
especially relevant as we just returned from a trip to Mexico for a family
wedding.
For the last
five days, Jim and I have called “home”, a little cottage in a lovely gated
community right on the Pacific Ocean. The
afternoon we arrived we oohed and aahed over the cuteness of the place, and the
spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean from the deck outside the living room
window. We unpacked our things, and
strolled around the neighborhood, getting acquainted with our home away from
home. We enjoyed every minute of the
sunshine, cool ocean breezes, the sound of crashing waves, birds singing from
the very tops of palm trees, and the closeness of family. We snuggled up on couches, slept well in
comfy beds, cooked breakfast in a well appointed kitchen. It was lovely, but it wasn’t “home”. As our
time drew to a close we began to long for our real home.
It was when I
read the question on the plane home that I began to think about what “home”
means to me. Home isn’t defined by the
view outside my window, or by climate, or birds singing, or palm trees,
although I enjoy every one of those things!
Home to me is a place of quiet and rest. It’s the place where I can be
myself in grungy clothes with my legs wrapped over the arms of a comfy chair
with a book in my hand. It might be a
cheesy phrase, but as I define it, home really IS where my heart is.
The study used
the question to jump start a much deeper discussion based on the teaching of
Jesus from the Gospel of John, chapter 15, where He says:
“I am the vine; you are the
branches. If a man abides in me and I in
him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Different translations
use the word “remain” instead of abide, but both words carry the idea of
staying in place, continuing, dwelling.
Webster’s adds a dimension of continuity with its definition, “persisting
in staying”.
Branches
wouldn’t be much without the vine. The
vine is the vehicle through which the minerals and water in the soil gets to
the branches. If those branches decide
to head off on their own without the vine, they won’t last long! They NEED to remain in the vine!
The same is
true spiritually. Jesus is the
vine. If branches are going to live the
life Jesus intended for them – fruitful lives – then they need to remain, or
abide, in Him.
In a sense, and this is
where the authors ultimately go in the study, Jesus is the One in whom I need
to make my “home”. He needs to be the
place where my heart is. And in that
sense, I can abide in Him anywhere, whether in a cozy cottage in Mexico, or
here in the place where Jim and I reside.
At any time that I draw close to Him, whether reading my Bible, talking
with Him in prayer, worshiping Him at home alone, or at church, all these are
ways in which I am actually “home”, abiding in His presence.
So let me
ask you the question, “What does home mean to you?”. Is it a only a place with four walls, and all
your favorite things, or is Jesus your true home, the One with whom you persist
in staying, no matter where you might roam?
