How quick I am to call places my home. How eager I am to connect with new people and hold tight to old friendships.

 

I could say my home is Chesapeake, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Nashville, Martin, or Greenville. I could say my “second home” is Camp Crestridge, or that my heart is with Camp Ozark. Each place I’ve lived carries much more than just an environment. Each of these places are home to me.

They are home to me because of the people that make up each place. They are home because of the connectedness between these people and myself—the connectedness that is cultivated by a place.

God gives us this desire for connectedness. He gives me the longing to build deep relationships with new friends. He gives me the craving for new adventures and the longing to hold on to connections founded on the places I call home.

God gives me these desires for redirection towards Himself. He knows the ultimate and victorious connection of Heaven—He knows that on this earth, my longing for connections will only be completely fulfilled in my eternal home. He knows that these relationships are simply a vessel for His glory.

“He knows that these relationships are simply a vessel for His glory.”

Because, on the earth, relationships are elusive and wavering. As I’ve moved around the southeast, I’ve learned to prepare myself for losing connections. My heart gets pulled and tugged and stretched as I connect with the people  around me, only, it seems,  to build a foundation for the coming long distance friendships. It’s in my nature to glue myself to the rope of friendships until they are ripped apart.

But there is purpose in my loyalty. There is purpose in our desire for the growth of friendships and partnership, and there is a sovereign plan for the working out of those relationships.

As my heart stretches into so many places, I come to understand that my human heart can’t handle it. I was not made to hold human relationships closer than God. My heart was created with the capacity to hold firmly to One relationship, and through Him, be faithful in the groups of people He places me with. God built my heart to be glued to Him. He carefully constructed us to bring us into His family. And while the people He has built are beautiful and engaging, the Builder is greater.

How sweet and sovereign is the truth that, as believers, we have been brought into the Builder’s family. We have been brought into His house, and He trusts us to be faithful in our home. He equips and grows us as we build friendships, struggle through relationships, and connect with others under the roof of His glory.

Our faithfulness dulls in comparison to Jesus. Our deepest friendship pales next to the radiance of a relationship with Him. Our best shot at loyalty didn’t nail us to a cross. Our greatest desire for God’s glory didn’t overcome death. But we can joyfully partner with the One who did. Brothers and sisters, we get to share in the eternal joy of bringing glory to God.

“Through healthy community, God teaches me that the house He entrusts to me isn’t for my own relational benefit, but for the advancement of His Kingdom.”

Through healthy community, God teaches me that the house He entrusts to me isn’t for my own relational benefit, but for the advancement of His Kingdom. My capacity and longing to connect and relate to others stems from my ultimate partnership with my Creator—our Builder.

My heart isn’t created for earth; it’s created for eternity. The One who overcame death has returned to the home of glory, and because of His eternal power in me, and I get to partner in His glory every day.

Hold tightly to the One who is greater. Stand firm as we build the kingdom in the name of the One who rules over it. Be faithful in the “house” He entrusts to you, and be more faithful in bringing Him glory.

Jesus—glory personified and glory’s home—illustrated and revealed through us.