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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: HOME (02/07/19)
There was an orphan who got adopted but still lived at the orphanage until his adopted parents came to get him. His adopted parents would send money for his upkeep and visit regularly so that he lacked nothing. They were literally at his beck and call. But he lived there so long that he began to get comfortable. He didn’t live there as someone who was getting ready to move out at any moment.

He would spend money and time furnishing his room in the orphanage and getting anything that he desired even though he wouldn’t need any of it when he moved because everything will be provided for him. More interestingly, his adopted parents had told him that he could bring as many people as he wanted with him to the new place and they would take care of them.

However, he didn’t bother telling any of those orphans about this great message and get them to come along with him. He just focused on talking to them about how much stuff he had and his beautiful room in the orphanage. Once in a while, he will throw in a little detail about who his parents were and the fact that gave him everything.

You begin to wonder if what he really wanted and longed for was a relationship with loving parents and a place, he would call home or just someone to dish out money and give him everything he wanted. The orphan could really be anyone. It was the Israelites who had stayed so long in the wilderness, they began to think of it as home. Before long they lost sight of the real home filled with milk and honey which God had prepared for them with their constant whining for one thing or the other and disobedience. It's easy to get comfortable in a place when you stay there for a long time. But if it's not where God needs you to be, you have to remember that it's only a temporal placement and to get comfortable is to miss it completely.

The orphan could be us when we forget that we are not of the world (John 17:16) and live as though the world is our home. There is a difference between making yourself at home and making yourself so comfortable in a place that you begin to think and call it home. When you go and visit someone in his house, you can feel at home and enjoy everything that is offered. However, you don’t think that’s your home, you are still conscious of the fact that you need to go back to your own home.

Abraham felt at home in a land of Canaan which was to be his home, but it wasn’t his home. The Lord had told him He was going to give it to him and his descendants. So, though it was home, he couldn’t yet call it home because it didn’t belong to him yet. It would take some 400 years and more for it to be home, but he felt very much at home there. Just like him, we are not of this world, our home is in heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Like Abraham, we are there now seated with Christ in Heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) but we not really there yet. Earth is a temporal location until we really get there. But we must not get all confused and think the earth is home because we have been here for so long. This doesn’t mean we can’t feel at home here on earth because we should. Because of our position in Christ, we have everything we need to feel at home here on earth.

We get to start living here on earth as though we are at home, like Abraham, in anticipation of a time when we can be at home. We are like the orphan living like the adopted child in an orphanage waiting for our parents to take us home. Our lives are definitely different from other orphans because we have a Father and a home, let’s not get too comfortable in the orphanage.

It's only an orphan who calls the orphanage, home. If as adopted children we live in this world (the orphanage) as though it's our home, we will be living as orphans and not adopted children of God. We are no longer orphans. Let’s fix our eyes on where our Heavenly Father lives because it's our home too.
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This article has been read 305 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
C D Swanson 
02/14/19
This was a powerfully enriching story that had a great message.
Thank you for this, and for the timely reminder of where our "true home" really is.

Blessings~
Linda Lawrence
02/15/19
A very thought-provoking piece. I'll be thinking about this for awhile. That's a good sign of a well thought out piece of writing.
Barbara Culler 
02/15/19
I saw where this was going from the start-interesting concept! To me, you had more than enough examples of how we tend to forget that heaven is our real home. But all were true!
Bonnie Bowden 
02/17/19
I was reminded not to forget where my true home is. I enjoyed your take on his week's topic.

There was one time you used the present tense instead of the past tense.

Well done.
Bonnie Bowden 
02/17/19
I was reminded not to forget where my true home is. I enjoyed your take on his week's topic.

There was one time you used the present tense instead of the past tense.

Well done.
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
02/20/19
This is an interesting lesson. You do a nice job of matching it with the Bible stories. Your first line is a passive sentence. I'd urge you to use as many active ones as possible. Also, I know you wanted the orphan to represent several people, but I think it might've helped me connect more if he had a name. You have a great clear message and nailed the topic.
Nancy Sullivan 
02/21/19
Great analogy. For many of us, our lives can become that comfortable place that lessens our focus on Heaven. Thanks for sharing. Congratulations on your HC.