Home

“Within you is my true home,” this line, closing out Psalm 87, refers to Jerusalem, the city of the living God. It is offered as comfort for the Jewish people who were dispersed throughout the pagan world and who longed for their homeland, to be in the place where God dwells. As I prepare to move yet again, I find comfort in this line as well. It is a reminder to me, when I am feeling homeless and untethered, that I do have a true home, and that no matter where I live or how often that changes, there is a refuge, a place of stability and peace that remains constant and secure.

Indeed, my reason for comfort, for consolation, and for hope in this pilgrim life, this life where I am often displaced, is greater even than that of the ancient Israelites. For it is not simply in a holy city that I take refuge, but in the living God himself. As Jesus was preparing his disciples for his passion and death, he made this promise to them, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” (John 14: 23 ) Jesus promises that he and the Father will make their dwelling place in those who love him and keep his word.

He goes on to exhort us to remain in him as he remains in the Father. (John 15: 7-10) Thus, it is not only that Jesus dwells in me, but he invites me to make my home in him as well. The apostle John further emphasizes this reality writing, “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.” (1 John 4: 16) This promise gives me peace in the midst of the chaos of this passing life. Moving is stressful and it is easy to get caught up in the feelings of uncertainty and instability. I do long for a dwelling place that is secure. I want to be settled.

But then I remember my Beloved One who famously said, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head,” (Matt 8:20) and I am reminded that this world is not my home and that it is not the role of a disciple to become too comfortable here. I am convicted once again that anything that makes me more like my Lord is for my good, even small things like feeling not quite at home.

So, I will pack up my belongings once again, and as I do so grow in detachment. As I look for a new house,  it will be with a sense of peace, resting secure that wherever I may live the God who loves me lives within me, and I in him.