The Temporal Longs for the Eternal

I can still remember the first day I felt it. We were newly married, living in Kansas City MO, out on a bike ride. It wasn't a growing feeling, but something that hit me all of a sudden.

 I couldn't put my finger on at first. It felt like I had been up at camp all week and I just wanted to come home.

I started asking myself questions:
Am I homesick for my family? Answer: No, not to the point of feeling homesick?

Am I homesick for my hometown? Answer: No, not at all.

What could I possibly be homesick for then?

Then it hit me...and hard! I was HOMESICK FOR HEAVEN.

My physical body was groaning for the spiritual. Paul says in Romans 8:23, "And not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." This is what was happening to me, my physical body was homesick for its redemption when I will be fully restored--spirit, soul, and body--to the presence of God in heaven before His throne.

The temporal was looking to the eternal and longing for the presence of the Lord. Again Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:18, "while we look not to the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. My temporal body was looking to the unseen God and crying out in longing for Him.

By no means am I wishing my life caught short. No, I am merely recognizing that I come from my Creator. Eventually, we will all be united with Him. It is perfectly natural as a part of creation to groan for the day when sin will be thrown down to the lake of fire once and for all.

I have had this sensation a few other times over the years, but not too often. When it does hit me, I run to prayer and thank the God of the Universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for His beauty and wonder and creativity and delight. I thank Him for creating me, and delighting in me, and loving me. I thank Him for His swift return and the day when I will be free from the Sin that roams this earth.

Embrace who you are. Embrace the fact that you are an eternal spiritual being that groans for the redemption of our bodies. We groan in desire to be set free from this fallen earth. We are homesick for the Father's House.