Homesick at Home

My wife is in New Mexico visiting her best friend and college roommate Stephanie.  She is having a great time and I'm excited for her.  She rode a train from Iowa to New Mexico.  Then she got to go to the White Sands National Monument yesterday and today she went to the Grand Canyon.  She's got a few more days down there to enjoy with her friend all the beautiful Southwest has to offer.

Meanwhile, I'm at home.  I'm extremely happy for my wife to be on such a great vacation, but I'll admit that I'm learning something about home.  You can be homesick at home.  Home just isn't home without my wife.  The beds and chairs and sinks and cats and everything in the home is still here, but my wife isn't and so I'm homesick at home.

I'm using this illustration not to illicit pity but to make a point about what the Gospel is.

Pastor John Piper has said this:

“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—
is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the
friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and
all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties
you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no
human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with
heaven, if Christ were not there? ”

It is not possible to have Heaven without Christ because Heaven by definition is where God dwells.  But if it were possible would you want it?  Is the Gospel to you about getting and having Jesus?

"One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD..."  Psalm 27:4

Would you be homesick without Jesus?  Is Jesus the abode you long for?  Do you long to be at home with your Beloved?

"Jesus replied, 'If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."  John 14:23

The great gain of the Gospel is getting Christ.  With Him we will be home forever.

If you long to be with Jesus He will fulfill that longing.  Ask Him to make His home your home today.