This World is Not My Home

“This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through,

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue;

The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”

The words of this old hymn have filled my mind since childhood. Written by an unknown author, it was first published in 1919 and then arranged by Alfred E. Brumley, author of I’ll Fly Away. Though the song is a celebration of the believer’s future hope, to me it is so much more. It states a fact that is firmly rooted in Scripture.

Scripture reminds us on several occasions that though we might be putting in time on planet earth, it is not planet earth for which we were ultimately created. We were created for a life eternal in that place that the song calls, somewhere beyond the blue.

Scripture refers to you and me, God’s redeemed children as aliens, strangers, pilgrims, sojourners, and exiles. What do these all have in common? The terms all speak of a displaced people who are filled longings to be home. In truth we are all resident aliens, awaiting  transport to our true home.

The Apostle Paul tells us that our physical bodies are nothing more than a temporary dwelling, akin to a tent. “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven” (II Corinthians 5:1-2).

The body that you occupy is but a temporary earth-suit, made of dust, subject to decay like the fabric of a tent. The promise of God’s Word is that this temporary covering is going to wear out one day, assume room temperature and be buried. At that moment, our spirit and rational mind will take up a new residence in a building of God’s design, a new house if you would, a house built in the land that is our true home.

Scripture also warns us not to get too comfortable here on planet earth, for we are just passing through, we ought always to be looking for that new city, whose architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10). This earth will one day pass away. It will be replaced by a new earth, our true and everlasting home (II Peter 2:10-13). And because that is true, the Apostle Peter exhorts God’s children to be a holy people whose lives are marked by godly living.

Also, as pilgrims who are journeying towards their true home, we are to live as citizens of that land to which we are journeying. This world is not our home, we are citizens of another kingdom, and we are called to live like it.

For the most part, the citizens of this world don’t see a lot of difference between themselves and us. They see us scratching for, sweating over, and panting after the same things that they are. My friends, there has to be something more that sets us apart from our unbelieving neighbors than the fact that we go to church on Sunday, and they don’t. Do we live as if we truly believe that this world is not our home?

According to the Bible, only two things will survive beyond our earthly lives, God’s Word and People. If that is true, then were do you believe that we, as Christians, ought to be making our greatest investments during our brief sojourn below?

Though presently exiled from my true home, I want to daily live as if the words of the late English Evangelist, C.T. Studd were branded on my heart and mind, “Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”