Being at Home with Our Heavenly Father

March 9, 2026/Le Ann Trees/
Photo Credit: JohnnyGreig / iStock.com

Photo Credit: JohnnyGreig / iStock.com

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The old saying “There’s no place like home” implies that home is a place we want to be, but that isn’t always the case depending on what home means to us personally. The internet, magazines, movies, and books showcase countless idyllic images of home, beautiful spaces that are warm, cozy, and filled with love. Indeed, home is meant to be a safe haven, a place of rest and safety from the cares of the world.

Yet perhaps our home growing up wasn’t a safe place emotionally, physically, or spiritually, and as adults we want the place we call home to be some version of the carefully curated photos that surround us. It may also be that during childhood we had a neighbor or friend who seemed to have that “perfect” home we yearned for, and perhaps continue to wish for even now.

While we don’t want to make an idol out of our homes, it’s natural and right for us to long for a wonderful home. God has put it in our hearts to value home and all the good things associated with our dwelling place.

Let’s take a look at three Bible passages to better understand what home truly means for every Christian.

1. The Christian’s ultimate home is located where the Lord is present (Psalm 27:4).

First, we read the following in the Old Testament about the house of the Lord:

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire in his temple. (Ps. 27:4)

In this passage the psalmist declares that his one desire is to “dwell in the house of the Lord.” And why does the psalmist desire this? To be in the house of the Lord, “to inquire in his temple,” is to be in God’s presence. Everything else we see as beautiful in this world cannot begin to compare to the beauty of gazing upon God himself, and the psalmist is not only focused on beauty here.

As pastor Zach Keele notes in a sermon on Psalm 27, the psalmist knows that perfect safety in found in God’s presence. To be in God’s presence so fully that we can actually gaze upon him means no harm can come to us; we are safe from all our enemies (Ps. 27:1-3).

And while we cannot gaze upon God with our eyes in this world, we can regularly enter God’s house when we worship every Sunday:

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matt. 18:20)

We gaze upon God not by sight but by faith, knowing that he is there with us in our worship:

As our faith waits upon the second coming of Christ, how it is cheered along the way? It is by the one wish of the psalmist: to dwell in God’s house. Faith is fueled on the pilgrim path by coming to worship to gaze on the beauty of our God and Savior. As the psalmist states, in the land of the living he will enjoy God’s goodness. Ultimately, this is fulfilled in glory, but we participate in it truly here and now by Lord’s Day worship. (Keele, Sermon on Psalm 27)

Truly, church should be a place of rest, comfort, and encouragement for God’s children. It is a foretaste of the home that awaits us in the full presence of the Lord for eternity.

2. The most loving home of all is where our heavenly Father is waiting for us with open arms (Luke 15:17-24).

Second, in Luke 15 Jesus teaches us about God’s perfect love in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. A younger son is left alone and destitute after squandering his inheritance in licentious living. He finally comes to his senses and realizes his only hope is to return home to his father:

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:17-24)

Where did the son go when all other hope was gone? Home. Who was at home waiting for him? His father. No doubt, the father in this parable didn’t just happen to see his son in the distance. He was looking for him, never giving up hope that his son would return home to receive the love and forgiveness only his father could give him. The younger son went home to his father, and our true home—the place of love, forgiveness, and refuge—is where our heavenly Father is.

3. Jesus is preparing a home in heaven for all who trust in him alone for salvation (John 14:2-3).

Finally, we are comforted by Jesus’ assurance in his Farewell Discourse (John 14-17) that there is a place in his Father’s house for all who believe in him:

“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2-3)

In his sermon on John 14:1-11, Pastor Keele explains that

If Christ did not first head to the Father via the cross, there would be no place for us in heaven. If he didn’t prepare a room for us by his blood, we would have no eternal dwelling….Jesus is coming to bring you home. He misses you and wants you with him. And so he’s coming back to take you to himself. He wants you to be where he is. This is the great destination of our salvation: for us to dwell with God in heaven. There is no greater good, no sweeter blessing, no more delightful destiny.

Dear Christian, no matter how disappointing home has been for you on this earth, the day will come when you will be perfectly at home forever in the presence of your heavenly Father. And no matter how wonderful home has been for you in this world, it cannot compare to dwelling in God’s house and gazing upon his beauty with perfect clarity. Truly, home is where the heart is, and may the desire of our hearts always be focused on dwelling in the presence of the Lord now in Sunday worship and forever in our eternal home with him.

This article is adapted from “Being at Home with Our Heavenly Father” in Beautiful Christian Life’s August 2025 newsletter, “Home.“

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