When Home Hurts

READ: MATTHEW 7:24-27; ROMANS 8:35-39

I’ll never forget the first time I saw it: the foreclosure notice tacked to the front door. At fifteen, I was old enough to understand its meaning. The bank was coming to take our house away. I’d experienced enough under its roof to know this outcome was inevitable. We were already living without heat or hot water. Our house was falling into disrepair. My father had a great job, but my mother had squandered everything and then some, and now there was nothing left.

It would be another ten years before the house was finally gone, but that notice was the perfect example of just how unstable my home life was. Perhaps you can relate. Maybe your parents are divorced, and you move back and forth between homes. Maybe you’re in foster care, and your home is ever changing. Maybe you experience poverty, home insecurity, or abuse. Or maybe it’s something else.

Safe, secure homes are good, good things. God created us with needs, and it’s right to desire to have them met. During His earthly ministry, Jesus provided for people through things like food, bodily healing, and stable community—as well as through sharing the good, hope-filled news of His kingdom with them. We are called to serve others who are struggling and marginalized just as He did. And as we do, we can share the good news of how Jesus died and rose again to bring us into His family and give us an eternal home with Him. Because, if we put our ultimate hope in anything other than Jesus, we will always come up empty.

Home is supposed to be a place of refuge, and when it’s not, it can make you feel isolated, embarrassed, and lost. Thankfully, the Bible tells us that even when our home is uncertain, broken, or nonexistent, we can find hope and comfort in Jesus. He offers us the kind of security that no earthly dwelling can. When we build our lives upon His foundation, we have something more certain than anything this world can provide. • Alissa Griffin

• We all experience times when our home lives are not as they should be. How could it be comforting to remember that Jesus is always with us, holding us in His love, and that He promises we will live in restored creation with Him someday? (Revelation 21:1-5)

• God cares about all our needs, and one of the ways He provides for His people, is through His people. If you or someone you know is experiencing home insecurity or family instability, who is a trusted adult you could talk to about it today?

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8 (CSB)