06/12/2025
Where do I make my abode? Where is my place of residence? This morning, I am trying to determine whether I claim my earthly home as my permanent residence, or whether I list my heavenly home as such. Then there are the times in my travels that home becomes the temporary place where I lay my head.
“Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.”
John 1:38-39 ESV
Jesus stayed in different places as He traveled, but I am surprised to find that there were only two places on earth that were said to be His actual homes... places referred to as His. The first was His childhood home with Joseph and Mary, and the second was the one that is mentioned in Mark 2:15 as "His house." However, the second is often translated as having been the home of Levi so there may actually have been just one.
“And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.”
Mark 2:15 KJV
When Jesus was ministering during His final three years, He was in that place between Heaven and Earth, He was moving back and forth between the two as His relationship with God dictated to the point that He seemed homeless on earth. As a matter of fact, He said as much...
“And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”
Matthew 8:20 KJV
Even so, Jesus always knew exactly where His home was... or should I say His homes.
When someone asks me where my home is, there are three answers, and I have to determine which home the person is referring to. First, I have my childhood home, second, I have my current adult home, and finally I have my heavenly home. One place I call home (Virginia) because it is where I was raised, and where my parents lived and family lives then there is the place here in Nashville where I have made my home and raised my own children, and finally I have that place which is being prepared for me in heaven.
If we accept the translation of Mark 2:15 as referring to the home of Levi, then Jesus had three homes as well... He had His childhood home with his parents Joseph and Mary, His Father's home in heaven, and wherever He laid His head each night on earth (often called His abode).
There is a secular song that was sung by The Temptations that refers to this kind of transient home. It will help us understand how nomads look at the idea of home. Listen to these words...
"Papa was a rolling stone, wherever he laid his hat was his home"
But that is where the similarity ends because Jesus never left us alone; as the next line of this song's lyrics says of the earthly Papa in the song.
American cowboys also sung of their transient existence in songs such as the 1910 rewrite of the famous poem by Brewster Higley titled "My Western Home" that became the song we know as “Home On The Range” and began in this way…
“Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam,
Where the deer and the antelope play,
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Chorus:
Home, home on the range,
Where the deer and the antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.” - As Rewritten in 1910 by John A. Lomax
So, you can see that a nomadic lifestyle isn't an uncommon way of life, and home can take on different connotations to various people, and in Luke 21 we see an example of such a place being referred to as the abode of Jesus...
“And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives.”
Luke 21:37 KJV
So where do we claim that our home is? Perhaps it would all depend on the context of the question... "where is your home?" This morning I am asking myself a spiritual question... so the answer should be couched by this understanding. What I am being asked is if I value my existence in heaven enough to call it home, or if am I so firmly rooted in my physical life that it has become my home.
As people search for a home, they often get lost. They have no idea where they should travel as they attempt to find home. Some have never had anywhere that they even acknowledged as home... not even the place they hung their hat. But I want to tell you something wonderful. You don't have to find a home because there is a heavenly home that will find you. If you meet Jesus in your travels and place your love and faith in Him, then He will bring this home to you! You will not only have a place to call home, but a spiritual family to go along with it.
“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
John 14:23 KJV
Each of the places I call home is precious to me, but none more precious than my spiritual home in heaven, and this glorious home is the one that I know is waiting patiently for my arrival, and that I should never worry about finding my way home to it. Is this where you call home?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for my various homes, but I thank you most for the home that is being prepared for me in heaven. Whether I live in one place, two places, or wander this earth, I will always call my true home that place where you are. You are my Father, my God, and my family; in you I find the love and security that home represents so profoundly to me. In you I find a Father who rescues me when I am lost, and by your presence, brings me home from wherever I am. Holy Father I long to make my abode with you and Jesus Christ, not for just a day, but for all eternity. Within the loving relationship we have established I find amazing peace, joy, rest, and yes, a warm loving homelife in you. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you will make my abode in you a safe and secure residence for me in this world, Heaven, and wherever I happen to lay my head. I pray that each and every home you build for me, whether with your Spirit, Word, or your hands, will glorify you as I make my home there with you, and that each will protect me against every storm… spiritual or earthly… keeping me warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and safely in my faith and righteousness forever and ever more. Praised be your name Holy Father for your promise is engraved upon the golden placard above our door which speaks of this home’s builder and reads “Grace”.
Amen
“My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.”
Isaiah 32:18 ESV
“Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.”
Psalm 127:1 ESV
““Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. “”
John 14:1-6 ESV
Rich Forbes