Packed and Ready

You ever notice whenever you go on vacation or stay with someone for an extended stay, you never completely unpack your bags. You never completely settle your toiletry items in the restroom, or use all the dresser drawers. Even if you are staying somewhere for months, you never completely unpack. You are ready to pack up and leave on a moment’s notice. You can pack up a guest room in minutes, where at home it would take you days. Why is this? I remember a sign at my grandmother’s that read: “Home is where the heart is.” In your heart you know that you are not at home. That is why when you are on a long term trip you never completely unpack, even though you have more than enough time to do so. Your heart is telling you that you are not at home. Even though you desire what is best for the home you are staying and the people you are staying with, it is still not home. As Christians, this is how we must live in this world. Desire what is best for it, but be ready to leave on a moment’s notice. As Christians, our bags must still be a little packed.

This can be so hard to do. It is easy to make this world home, especially when you live in America, but we are not alone. People throughout the Scriptures struggled with making this world their home. “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.” Luke 17:30-33.
Lot’s wife, the man on the roof top, the person in the field, they made this place their home. When it was time to leave they were conflicted and in their hearts they chose here. They chose their citizenship to be in this world rather than the next and as a result they built their treasure here.
If we spend more time focusing on our home and the way it looks than we do on the Lord’s kingdom, our bags are unpacked. If we concentrate and worry about our finances more than we do the Lord’s kingdom, our bags are unpacked. If we care more about our careers than we do the Lord’s kingdom, our bags are unpacked. Reflect on your thought life, look at your check book, analyze where you spend your time. Are you unpacked? Have you made this world your home?
If we make this world our home we will not sacrifice for God’s kingdom. We will not have a heart for the lost or live for eternity, because we believe our best life is now. We will spend our money on this earth and store all our treasures here. Like Lot’s wife or the farmer in the field, we will look back. Why? Because we will desire this life more than the next.
Yes, we must look out for what is best for our city and country of residence, but we must remember that we are not at home. Desire what is best for your city, because if it prospers you will prosper, but this world is not our home. We must live in it with our bags just a little bit packed. Like the 5 virgins with oil we are ready to leave on a moment’s notice. We will be able realize that nothing in this world is permanent, because we are ready to go home.
I know in so many ways I have made this place my home. I have been praying to God that He would reveal to me where I have unpacked all of my bags and help me pack them. I have also made commitments to fellow believers to remind me of where my home is when I am off track and living for the temporary, and in return I will do the same for them. We need each other. We all get off mission and have our weak moments. We will need others to help us at those time.
We must commit in our hearts that our home is not in this world. We must commit in our hearts to leave our bags a little bit packed. Only then will we live for God’s kingdom. Only then will we die for Christ. For home is where the heart is and there our treasure will be also.
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