On Going Home

I get to go home tonight for Thanksgiving. I'm very, very, very excited. It's been a long time since I've seen my family, and an even longer time since I've been home. I can't wait until I can go tonight.

Unfortunately, I can't leave right now. I've got class this evening, and then I have to work a couple of basketball games. Alas, welcome to the world of work. If I just had school, I could dump out of class early and hit the road to head home, but I have a job which requires that I work two basketball games tonight.

I don't mind working. I actually like my job with the college athletic department. It's just that I'm really ready to get home, and my job is keeping me here. Nevertheless, the job gives me money, pays the bills, and allows for me to take free classes at the college (not for long...but more on that later). So, it's kind of a necessity. I can't just up and go home whenever I want, otherwise I'd have no job and no money to pay for my gas.

So, I can't go home...yet. I will as soon as I finish up with work, though. You better believe that as soon as the final buzzer sounds in that 8:00 basketball game, I'll be heading out the door and hitting the road.

Spending eternity with God is kind of the same way. Whenever we have a relationship with the Lord, there is a strong desire just to leave everything behind here and skip ahead to be with him in heaven. As Paul put it in Philippians, "to die is gain," because we get to be with the Lord, finally in union with the our Creator and Savior.

But we can't go home....yet. We still have a job to do. If our only purpose was to know him as Lord and Savior, why doesn't he just take us up there as soon as we accept him? I think it's because he has a task for us. Not only are we to know him. We are to make him known.

Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second greatest commandment followed shortly thereafter: to love our neighbor as ourselves. Yes, we need to love God. Yes, we should desire to be as close to him as possible. However, he has placed us here on earth, and we are to live here as long as he wants us to. While we're here, we can't just sit around doing nothing waiting on him to come back. We have to work for him, bearing fruit, and sharing love to those that are around us.

So, I can't go home...yet. There is still work to do, in more ways than one.