Our Need for Home
Open Your Bible
Genesis 3:1-24, Psalm 51:1-19, Psalm 16:11
BY Andrea Lucado
I’ve lived in 17 different homes during my 32 years of life, counting every dorm room and short-term apartment. From a young age, I’ve attempted to nest in each one. In eighth grade, I painted my room lime green. In college, I carefully picked out every accessory for my dorm room. In my adult life I’ve nested hard, spending weeks and months picking out furniture, arranging and rearranging gallery walls until everything was just right. It’s not that I’m a brilliant interior decorator (lime green, remember?); I just want each place I live in to feel like a home.
We may express it differently, but we all long for home. We have an innate desire to be where we belong—or to belong where we are. I wonder if this longing can be traced back to Adam and Eve when they lost their home, banished from the Garden of Eden for good.
For their entire existence, Adam and Eve had operated one way within in the garden. Naked and free, they had no shame or fear. They were at one with God. Then in a moment, everything changed, and “the eyes of both of them were opened” (Genesis 3:7). Suddenly, Adam and Eve were aware of their nakedness. They were afraid of God and ashamed to be seen by Him. When they left the garden that day, they lost more than their home; they lost themselves too.
I wonder if at the root of our desire to know where we belong is the desire to know who we are. Not only do we crave a return to Eden, but a return to who we were within Eden: unashamed, free, in communion with our God. Now we are as David laments, “guilty when I was born… sinful when my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5).
We have an opportunity during this Easter season to grieve the loss of Eden and the loss of innocence. We can sit and contemplate our desire for home and belonging, place and identity. We do so with pain and sadness, but also with expectancy and hope.
In our quests for home, we need look no further than what we celebrate during Easter—an empty tomb. That is where our identities changed from sinful to righteous, from banished to welcome. When I know who I am in Christ, I always know where I belong. I always know where home is—in Him.
So this season we grieve and we celebrate. We are banished no more, guilty no more. We are ashamed no more because of Christ, the cross, and a tomb that lay empty. Let’s rejoice in Christ, the joy of our salvation. And let us give thanks to God who has revealed “the path of life to me,” the path leading home (Psalm 16:11).
227 thoughts on "Our Need for Home"
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I agree that the people I surround myself with are home, including Jesus as I surround myself with him.
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I just purchased the “Because He Lives” reading plan for $1.99. Is that a one-time charge?
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If you pay 1.99/ month you get all the reading plans
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Is the plan $1.99 each day, or does that pay for the entire reading plan?
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If you download the app you pay $1.99 a month and get all readings.
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It’s $1.99 for the entire reading plan. They also have the monthly option.
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I’ve heard it explained that a wife will desire to control her husband when the husband should be the one in charge. I see that in my own marriage when I catch myself trying to undermine my husband sometimes. :(
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God spoke into my heart last night, He filled my mouth with words of affirmation. No situation, diagnosis, shame, guilt, and sin, is too much for God. His mercies are new every morning. He will wipe our slates clean and lead us into a life everlasting. For the women here who need a confident strength right now, I pray over your heart that you would trust and open up to hear from God. Take some time to read over these verses and listen to Him. You are never too far from him sister. Be blessed. “If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your hearts that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Rom. 10:9
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Amen!
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As I read this I couldn’t help but think about how perfect God’s plans are – even when we mess up. If it weren’t for Adam and Eve “messing up” we would all live in beauty, safety and innocence. It’s possible we wouldn’t know how good we had it until we witnessed sin or imperfection. I’m sure that’s the case with Adam and Eve, too. That they didn’t understand how perfect everything was because they knew nothing else. Knowing pain and shame now, gives us a longing for something better – for that perfect place. And there’s no way to access that but through our Savior.
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❤❤❤
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We have been in a new town/home/job for a year. I have struggled to find home here. I long for our former home and the comfort of the familiarity and our church family. This resonates with me. I can only imagine the hurt, sorrow and lostness that Adam and Eve felt. This was a good reminder for me that I cannot find the feeling of home in a place, but only in Christ Jesus. My current home and this Earth is not forever, thank God my eternal home is with him!
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