Longing for Home
When George Clooney lets go of Sandra Bullock's hand in the movie Gravity, you know he is doing to die and soon because his oxygen tank is almost empty. The atmosphere outside this earth won't sustain his human body, and his only lifeline to life is the oxygen in that rapidly emptying tank. When the oxygen is gone, he will have only a few minutes of life because he cannot survive in that atmosphere.
However, the reality is that when Sandra Bullock arrives back on the earth, she is also dying - just more slowly. We are all aging. Our bodies are breaking down; some more quickly than others. This world is not our home. It doesn't sustain the most basic desire of our hearts- to have the lasting, perfect love of our Father. Psalm 90:1 states "Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations." God is the home we are missing; walking with Him in the cool of the day.
We are separated from God by sin that automatically drives us out of his presence. But Jesus became the scapegoat for our sin. He was separated and exiled from God on the cross so that we could be drawn near to God. As Tim Keller says, "[u]nless you make your relationship with God the most important thing in your life, unless you recognize that and only that is home, you will feel so much estrangement. You will always be traveling and never arriving. Your life will always be winter and never Christmas."
David understood this. In Psalm 16, he says:
1 Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all
my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful
inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
The longing for our hearts for home is only found in Him.
In Him,
Pastor Boyd
However, the reality is that when Sandra Bullock arrives back on the earth, she is also dying - just more slowly. We are all aging. Our bodies are breaking down; some more quickly than others. This world is not our home. It doesn't sustain the most basic desire of our hearts- to have the lasting, perfect love of our Father. Psalm 90:1 states "Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations." God is the home we are missing; walking with Him in the cool of the day.
We are separated from God by sin that automatically drives us out of his presence. But Jesus became the scapegoat for our sin. He was separated and exiled from God on the cross so that we could be drawn near to God. As Tim Keller says, "[u]nless you make your relationship with God the most important thing in your life, unless you recognize that and only that is home, you will feel so much estrangement. You will always be traveling and never arriving. Your life will always be winter and never Christmas."
David understood this. In Psalm 16, he says:
1 Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all
my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful
inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
The longing for our hearts for home is only found in Him.
In Him,
Pastor Boyd
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