Three Ways To Make A Place Home
What does home mean to you? Home is where your stuff is, where you rest, where your people are, and where you can be you. Home is where the big and mundane moments happen, from milestone celebrations to daily chores. For spiritual life, sometimes it feels like a vacation rental. You like visiting once in a while, and when you do, you have meaningful experiences. But, when you're ready to head back to your real lives, you pack up and head out until next time.
Take a moment to reflect: is life with God more like a home you've lived in for years or a vacation rental you visit for a few days every once in a while? The difference between a vacation rental and a home is how long you stay. There is a way to be at home with God, where he is the one you always return to, rest with, and root deeply in. For a place (or person) to become home, you need a plan to stay.
John 15:4-5 says, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."
This passage is both a command a promise. It's mutual, relational, and invitational. So, what is your plan to stay...at home, rooted with God? Here are three ways to stay:
Remain with God's Word. This week, read, reflect, and remain in John 14-15. Explore:
What does this passage say about God, Jesus, his character, and his plan?
What does this passage say about people in general?
Remain by speaking with God. This week, pray through John 14-15. How will Scripture shape your prayers and conversations with him?
Remain by putting what you hear into practice. How will you respond to what God is saying to you?
God wants a life together that resembles home more than a vacation rental. Sometimes, a new home doesn't feel like home right away. But the more you return and rest, the more life you spend making a house a home. Talk to God about what you're hearing from him by slowing down and journaling, and always with the help of the Holy Spirit.