The Way Home

Scripture Verses
John 14:1-7 

 1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God[a]; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."

5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

Devotion
Remember as a child when it was finally summer and time to go on vacation?  The thought of going on a vacation was so exciting, and you counted down the days and asked a million questions about where you were going and what you would do once you got there.  As a child, I didn’t know when or how I’d get to our destination.  I also didn’t know if there would be a place to stay once we got there.  BUT, I did know my father said to trust him; and I did.

And remember how you never wanted your vacation to end?  It was so much fun; you wanted it to last forever.  But one day your father said it was time to go home.  And you may have whined and cried and stomped your feet that you didn’t want to go.  But soon you were in the car on your way home.  And the craziest thing happened.  The closer you got to home, the more anxious you were to get there.  You wanted to see your friends again and the rest of your family.  And you couldn’t wait to see your house again – especially your room.

As an adult, I don’t know when or how I’ll leave for heaven.  BUT, I do know there will be a room for me when I get there.  My heavenly Father has prepared one for me, and I have a child’s complete trust in Him.  If God says there will be a ‘room’ for you, then be assured there WILL be a room for you.  God WILL do His part.  We just need to get our part right.  All it takes is accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior – the way to our heavenly Father.

Just as with those childhood memories of returning home, we can also look forward to our earthly life drawing to a close.  We can look ahead and see Jesus waiting for us at the end of our road.  We can look forward to those final miles of our ultimate journey – to the time when we once again are reunited with our family and friends.  And waiting there for us will be our most precious heavenly room and our most precious heavenly Father – all because we trusted Jesus to be ‘the way’.  As bible scholar James M. Gray wrote:  “Who could mind the journey when the road leads home?”

Prayer
Father God, thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ to show us the way to our heavenly home.  Help us to remember daily your blessed assurance and prepare our hearts to accept your precious gift with the faith and trust a child has in his father.  Amen.