The Wrong Home

A 46 year old man broke into the home of Ashley Murray in South Bend, Indiana.  However, the man did not steal anything, nor threaten any violence.  On the contrary, he made himself helpful.  He cooked dinner and even tidied up the place, sweeping the floor and folding the laundry.  Was this mysterious intruder a friend or family member who was trying to offer Ashley a pleasant surprise? No.  Unfortunately, this was a man who seemed genuinely confused about where he was.  He adamantly asserted that he was in his own home.  The police were called, and safely took him away to await psychological evaluation. 

We question the man’s mental soundness because he operated under the delusion that he was at home in a place that was not his home.  However, we may often be guilty of falling to the same delusion.  Although we sometimes sing the hymn, “This World is Not My Home”, we live and think as if this world were our home.  Even we, who should know better, find ourselves sometimes judging success, achievement, and value by the temporary standards of the physical world rather than the eternal standards of the spiritual world.

I wonder how dramatically it might change our thought processes, if we could connect, on both an emotional and spiritual level, with the idea that we are simply sojourners in this world rather than permanent residents.  Many of our material possessions would become much less important; perhaps some might even be viewed as hindrances on our journey.  Some of our current anxieties would be alleviated, while other things might suddenly become much more troubling (such as an erring brother, or an unrepented sin).

Jesus prayed to the Father regarding his disciples, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world (John 17:14-16).  Jesus viewed those who would come to believe in him through the ministry and teachings of the apostles (John 17:20) to be just as foreign to this world as he was.  Do we view ourselves that way?  Or are we like the man who broke into Ashley’s house, delusionally acting at home in a place that in not our home?