Making Our Hearts His Home

I love vacations, but there is nothing like coming home to my own home, sleeping in my own bed, using my own shower, and eating from my own kitchen (unless it's my mom's mexican food). There is something about being at home that calms our hearts and causes us to feel at rest. Although there are many people's homes I feel perfectly comfortable in, it just can never be home.

I have been thinking a lot about how God is wanting our hearts to be His "home." In John 14 (or 15 or 13...I can't remember) it says to those who love Jesus that the Father promises to love them also. Not only that, but it says that they will come and make their home in our hearts. I've been thinking about the incredibleness (that isn't a real word, is it?) of what Jesus is saying in this verse. He doesn't want to just come and visit us...He doesn't want our hearts to be a place where He packs His bags (so to speak) and stays awhile to enjoy us. HE WANTS TO MOVE IN!!! And He never wants to leave.

Is it really true that God is looking for a home? He obviously has everything He needs...He is God! Yet, He must long for a home if it's His goal that our hearts would be His home. Even when Jesus is on the earth, He said that foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but He didn't have any place to lay His head. Our hearts can be a place of rest for the Lord. It can be His habitation -- His home. How loved He must have felt at His friends houses, such as Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Yet, He says He didn't have a real place of rest that He could lay His head.


In my first year of college, I lived with 5 girls. I know...that was basically insane!! We obviously had to make some adjustments as to how we lived. Sometimes we had to make room for someone elses stuff, change our plans to suit someone elses, etc. It is true with any person who has a roommate that they have to "make room" for the other person to live with them. They no longer make decisions alone or pay bills by themselves...there is someone else involved in keeping the house clean, paying the bills, etc. It is the same with Jesus. He wants to partner with us on the earth. He wants to live with us. He wants to do everything with us. He wants to have fun with us, go to work with us, go through times of pain with us, and give us sweet moments of His love throughout it all. It takes some adjustments in our lives for the Lord to have that kind of intimacy in our lives. It is the difference between a good relationship with Him and an excellent one. I'm not talking about Jesus coming into our hearts for the first time through salvation. I'm talking about the kind of relationship that Moses had with Him -- where God can look at someone and say that they are His friend. Yes -- God can be friends with humans. That's exciting! Yet, there are adjustments we must make to be able to walk with God this way. It doesn't just happen. God likes to be pursued. He blesses the heart that hungers for Him.

From the moment Jesus entered into this earthly human realm, there was never room for Him. Even when Mary was about to give birth to Him, there was no room in the inn for Him. I question myself now...Lord, is there room in my heart for you? Have I opened the door of my heart to you...not just for a short visit or vacation, but have you moved in? Do you feel at home in me? Is my heart at rest enough to where you can lay your head down and relax? Can you be yourself in me? Have you made my heart your habitation? There are certain people in my life that when we are together, we can be comepletely quiet and it is ok. There is not the need to say something...there is not the akward feeling of "now what do I say?" It's just easy being around them and silence is ok. Is it that way with You, God? Can I enter into the rest of your heart and not have to say a word? Is it akward for me to just sit in silence with You? Is it ok if I just lean on you for a moment and not have to say a word, but just be with you? His answer is YES! Because that's the kind of place He is looking for. He wants a place of rest, of peace, of quietness. His heart is that way, and He can teach us to have that kind of heart also.

The Lord has given us so much...yet, at times (because of our weakness), we forget that we too fill something in His heart. His heart is ravished over us. Oh how He longs to make His home in us...to teach us about quietness and rest and leaning into Him. He is patient with us and offers us the promise that He will teach us about what He is like. The only thing we must do is found in the verse, "COME all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Put my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls." He will be our teacher...and oh what a gentle and humble one He is. The only thing we must do is to come... and then learn from Him.