November 7 Hungry for Home
November 7
Hungry for Home
“We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”
—2 Peter 3:13
California is beautiful, but there’s nothing quite like my home state of Maryland. Whenever I get a little homesick for the land of the Chesapeake Bay, Ken and I drive down to Pico and 25th Street in Santa Monica to visit The Maryland Crab House.
It’s just a few miles from the California beach, but you’d never know it. You walk into the restaurant and spot Baltimore Oriole banners and Georgetown University pennants tacked on the walls. When you order hot hard-shell crabs, they spread butcher block paper on the table just as they do at home. Wooden mallets for cracking crabs—Old Bay seasoning and vinegar for dipping crab meat. When I surround myself with familiar things, I get hungry for home.
I do the same thing when I get homesick for heaven. I read Revelation. I corner a friend who loves talking about the Lord’s return. I browse through 1 Corinthians 15 and relish in the hope of one day having a body that works. I smile at the signs of the times. I wonder what it means to be clothed in righteousness. In my mind I close the curtain on sin, Satan, and suffering and delight in the soon and coming new heavens and new earth.
When I surround myself with familiar things, I get hungry for home.
Are you a little bone-weary of living in a sin-sick world? Surround yourself with a few well-worn verses about heaven or hymns about the Lord’s return. Listen to a cassette sermon on the Second Coming. Daydream about unseen things and you may find yourself hungry for the home of righteousness.
Would You please help me to see heaven as my home, Lord? Make me hungry for heaven so that I can honor You better down here on earth.