Longing For Home
The Scarecrow listened carefully, and said, "I cannot understand why you should wish to leave this beautiful country and go back to the dry, gray place you call Kansas."
"That is because you have no brains" answered the girl. "No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home."
One of the central themes in the classic novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the idea of home. The Scarecrow wanted brains, the man of Tin wanted a heart, and the Lion wanted courage, but Dorothy, who had all those qualities, wanted to be home.
At the beginning of the book, the author, L Frank Baum, paints the picture of Kansas as a gray and dreary place where even the once beautiful and vibrant Aunt Em became gaunt and never smiled. For Dorothy, the only real bright spot in Kansas was Toto, who was with her in Oz. By contrast, the land Dorothy found herself in was radiant and magical. Yet, despite all the beauty and brightness of Oz, Dorothy still longs to go home. She wanted to be where she belonged.
The desire to be home burns deep in the heart of mankind. It's a longing to belong, a longing to have rest, and a longing to be known. We could be in the most beautiful vacation spots, enjoying the finest things of life, but the call to be home still sits in our souls. Why is this?
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis put it well when he said: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
Christians don't long for a gray and dreary home like Baum's Kansas. Our hope is the King of all Kings. We long for the Kingdom of Heaven to come in its fullness. Our citizenship is with this Kingdom and our King Jesus (Phil 3:20).
The difference between Dorothy's longing for home and ours is that they are reversed. We are in a broken and somber world dominated by death, and we long for land illuminated by our Savior Jesus Christ, where he will wipe all our tears away.
Heaven is a real, tangible place where we will unite with the saints who have gone before us, but this is not the driving force of our desire to be there. We don't long for heaven simply because it is greener, brighter, and absent of pain. Our longing for home is fueled long because we will be with our King Jesus. Heaven isn't about a place. It is about a person: Jesus Christ.
Until we are called home, we must live for it now. Live for Jesus - until He comes and establishes His Kingdom in full. Through the renewing power of His Spirit, make Christ's priorities your priorities, His ethics your ethics, and His desires need to be our desires.
While waiting for our King's return, let us grow deeper in our pursuit, knowledge, and love for Him each day.
