Home

I walked into the sanctuary this morning and I was overwhelmed. The morning light was shining through the stained glass and it bathed the sanctuary in its warm glow. The high and vaulted ceiling, the beautiful piano and pipe organ, the carved pews, the pulpit, the lectern — it all said, “This is the LORD’s House, this is holy ground.”

It felt so great I raised my hands in worship and said, “I love Your House, LORD!”

But more than the beautiful fixtures and the warm and inviting morning light, there was a sweet sense of comfort and peace, a feeling of belonging. It reminded me of my grandparents’ house and how happy and content I always was there. I loved going to my grandparents’ house, because I knew that I was always welcome and loved there. I belonged there. It was like home to me. Not only that, it was also home to my parents and my grandparents. Such a deep sense of heritage!

This is how I feel about God’s House. I have loved His House all my life. I grew up in church, and so did my parents, and their parents, and their parents. The hymns we sing in this blessed place are the same hymns I sang growing up. They are also the same hymns my parents sang, together with their parents and grandparents. Great old hymns of the church that tell of Jesus’ love for us, His people. The Word that we feast on here — this blessed spiritual food that gives us light and life — is the same Word that my parents and grandparents feasted on.

This sanctuary is home for me. God’s House. My house. It is my heritage. It is my delight. Every child of God should feel this way. It is our heritage. It is our home. King David loved the House of God! Do you love His House? On the Lord’s Day, is there any other place you would rather be than home — your happy home — the House of God?

There is no place I would rather be. It is where I learned of His love for me. It is where He introduced Himself to me. And it is where He has so often spoken to me.

May we all return home to God’s House often, and happily say with the psalmist, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” Psalms 122:1