Its good to be back home again

Hey it’s good to be back home again - yes it is

Sometimes this old farm feels like a long-lost friend

Yes ’n’ hey, it’s good to be back home again

In the John Denver song, "Home Again," I completely identify with his sense of longing for the farm. Not that I know the first thing about corn or cattle, but there is something to be said for home, the place where I can be in the arms of my wife, watch my kids run around naked getting popsicle juice all over themselves, and put my feet up and be myself in my own familiar surroundings, especially at the end of the day.

I remember a similar feeling right after I became a Christian. It felt as if I had come home after a long and largely unsuccessful journey, maybe like a traveling musician after a failed tour, or maybe Steven Segal after an audition for a big budget, non B movie. I was tired, discouraged, prideful, lustful, hateful, boastful, and full of alcohol and Mary and Juana.

But it all changed. Everything just seemed to fit all of a sudden, and it was nice. It didn't fit because I made it fit. I had tried to be good enough for God before and that didn't work...I was the guy who showed up to youth group in high school to the surprise of everyone, only to be in a brawl a few weeks later in the church parking lot, after nearly beating up another guy for telling me I was a sinner and needed Jesus.

No, God made it fit...I didn't. My motives were anything but godly, but its funny how God used them against me. I bullcorned my then girlfriend into thinking I was a Christian through the first half of college only to have it blow up in my face when I actually became one. But what made me become a Christian? It wasn't my spirituality, I was anything but spiritual...I was a jock who liked to drink beer and use big vocabulary words to cover up my 1.96 GPA. It wasn't my morality...I was far from moral, trust me. It had to be something supernatural. That is the only explanation.

Well, here is what happened. I was born again. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” What that means is this: I was born with a heart that was unable to desire God. No matter how hard I tried at different times, my true desires took over, and I always fell back into my sinful ways, sometimes even deeper. But God took my heart that was unable to respond to Him and gave me a new one...one that longed for and thirsted after Him. As a result, I was born again.

So what does this have to do with home? Well, God made me to know and worship Him, so there is a very real sense in which I am right at home when I come to know Him. Not know about Him, but know Him intimately through worship. For when I worship God, I do it as a member of His house, an adopted son who has all the benefits of family. I am no longer locked out, I am no longer on a journey out in the wastelands. Without a new heart, this would be impossible for me, or anyone else for that matter. God only lets worshippers into His home, and we cannot be worshippers because of our common bondage to sin. We cannot be home unless there is someone who makes us members of the household. As a result, we are all on an unsuccessful road trip, we are all B movie actors longing for a return to prominence on the big screen, until we come to know God with renewed affections.

How does this happen? Simple. Jesus lived the life of a perfect Son, always worshipping God in everything He did. He then took all that made us estranged from God and bore it on His shoulders at the cross. And then He conquered the death that grips us all because of our sin through His resurrection from the dead. When we trust in Jesus, we get His sonship status, He gets our sin on His shoulders, and we get are raised to the new life He won for us through His conquering death.

I am now home with God, able to put my feet up, relax, and enjoy the blessings of being with the One who made me. I often think about the way things used to be, probably too much. I get silly and try to go back every now and again, but my new heart won't let me do it for long. And the door is always open, because I am a son of the Almighty, never having to worry about not having a key.

If you are a Christian and you are far from God, I think good ole John Denver might have some good words for you.

It’s the sweetest thing I know of, just spending time with you

It’s the little things that make a house a home

Like a fire softly burnin’ supper on the stove

The light in your eyes that makes me warm

Hey its good to be back home again...Amen.