Make Yourself at Home

 

Where do you find you are most at home in this world? 

Have you ever gone on a trip for a length of time and when you finally got home, you walked into your house and said,"its good to be home".  You dropped your suitcases on the floor, felt the security of your house, sat down in your favorite chair, kicked off your shoes, cranked up the fireplace, made a bowl of popcorn, leaned back in the recliner and said "home" and took a peaceful breath. 

Or, have you ever gone to someones house and heared them say, "just make yourself at home?"  That's a nice offer but do they really mean that?  Can you really do that?  I mean, do you have the freedom to start going through their closet, cupboards, desk?  Do you really feel comfortable taking your shoes off (or leaving your shoes on) and putting them on top of the coffee table?  Can you open the frig, get out some food and start cooking it?  One night my son came over and he said to his mother,  what have you got to eat?  Well I had some leftover pizza wrapped in foil and hidden in the back of the frig for this very reason, I knew he might come over and I didnt want him to see it :)...Well Karen said to him, "sure, dad has some pizza in the frig, to which he did not hesitate in finding it and then reheating it.  Agh !! :)   That is making yourself at home.  Well, that might work in your parents home, but does making yourself at home work like that in someone elses home?..Does it really work that way?  Well no it doesn't. 

So ...where do you find you really are most at home in this world?  What does being "at home" mean to you? Well, aren't you at home where you are most free to be yourself, where you are most comfortable, where you are most secure, and where you have the most freedom to be honest about who you really are? We are at home where our roots are the deepest, where we know we belong and where we can most be ourselves and where we don't have to try to impress anyone to be ourself. And, where you can go to the frig and help yourself without being invited or having to ask.

I think that is what David is asking in Psalm 27:4 when he says:

One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple

David is saying the place he wanted to be most at home, most comfortable, most real, most secure, the place he knew he would be certain he belonged was in the presence of the Lord.  There is an old gospel song that says:

Feeling at home in the presence of Jesus,

Hearing Him call me His own
Feeling at home,

Feeling at home

Putting my feet right under His table

Knowing I won't be alone
Just feeling at home

Feeling at home

For the Christian when we are in the presence of Jesus as we spend time in worship, prayer, His Word, in church and walking in obedience is when feel most at home.