As Jesus was returning to Jerusalem on one occasion, “a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee withersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Luke 9:57-58). The man was convinced of the Lord’s teaching and wanted to follow him as his disciple. But Jesus spoke of his own circumstances to teach an important understanding concerning discipleship. A true follower of Christ is homeless, without roots, in this world.
Our Lord spoke readily that foxes and birds like all other creatures have their own homes. But he did not have a place to call his own. How ironic that the Creator of this world had no place of his own. The point that he made was emphatic. This world was not his home. He testified that he “came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6:38). Later when confronting the Pharisees about their plot to kill him, he asserted “Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world” (John 8:23).
Jesus, the Son of God, left heaven to do the Father’s will. He took on human flesh and was born of a virgin (John 1:14). Though he lived a sinless life, he suffered and died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world (Romans 3:21-26). He was raised from the dead the third day and ascended back into heaven where he is seated on the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2). Heaven is his home, not this earth. And the same is true for those of us who claim him as Savior and Lord.
Jesus spoke to this effect when he prayed for his disciples prior to his crucifixion. Speaking to his heavenly Father, he prayed “I have given them [his disciples] thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14-16).
For the believer, home is heaven and heaven is home! Jesus himself promised “I go [back to heaven] to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). Our days on this earth are measured. We are but strangers and pilgrims and, like Abraham, we “look for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10).
The apostle Paul, gripped by this truth, reminded the believers in Philippi, “our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).
The child of God cannot be “at home” in a world that rejects the love of the Father. John admonishes the believer “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (I John 2:15). Tell me, friend, where is your home?
From the Chaplain 