Is Our Home A Sweet Home?

An architect designs a house, and a contractor builds a house. But they can never transform a house into a home. Only we can make our house into a home. Only we can make our home into a sweet home.

Interestingly, for most homeowners, their most expensive financial investment in life is their homes! There is no place like home. But some have made their homes to become palaces or museums. Good to see but not advisable to touch. Some have turned their homes into prisons. Trapped within, working non-stop to keep it on tip-top conditions by cleaning over and over again. Some have turned their homes into uninhabitable places by hoarding excessively and accumulating things of little or no value!

What is a home? It is supposed to be an enjoyable and happy place where we can live and have our being! It has rooms for dwelling and living spaces. It is a place where we can rest, sleep, wake up, have breakfasts, lunches, and other meals in-between, play, relax, laugh and love. It is a place where we can care and share, respect and be respected, love and be loved!

A home is a place we can go unmasked. We are able to be our true self, without trying to be somebody else. A place where we can breathe freely. A place where little children are welcome, run safely, play together, get dirty and thereafter clean up. A place where we can relax leisurely without any tensions mounting up. A place where relationships are built and not broken! A place where hurts are mended and wounds are healed! A place where trust and hope abound, thrive and flourish! A place where love dwells!

More than just a physical building or apartment, beyond all the works of bricks, marbles, stones and wood, a home is where the heart should be! A place where we can never become tired and bored! A home is supposed to be a place where we can unload our burdens and rest. But if the home becomes a pressure cooker, it will cause and build up enormous emotional and mental stresses. If our home is no longer a good resting place, where else can we find rest?

Many people behave like the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. They choose to roam and wander away from their homes. Many do not want to go home. By doing so, they become almost homeless. Having a home but not desiring to be home! Always wanting to go places, chasing wild dreams and wishes, and getting into a lot of unnecessary problems, vices and troubles. And as a result, many have to face unpleasant consequences themselves!

A house is easy to construct but a home is hard to build and maintain! It requires a lot of dedicated efforts to care before becoming cared for, and to love before becoming loved!

Psalm 127:1-3
1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.

If the LORD does not build our homes, all of our efforts and works are useless and wasted. If the LORD does not protect our families, it does no good to stand guard and keep watch night and day. It becomes futile to work hard for a living by getting up early and going to bed late, and having sleepless nights and tiresome days filled with worries and pains! But the LORD provides for those He loves even while they are asleep. Blessed are those who put their trust and hope in the LORD! Their children are gifts from the LORD, and they are real blessings and not burdensome.

Most of their meals are home cooked. Simple, warm and delicious! Without any razzle and dazzle! If the children are involved in preparing and cooking the food, they will probably not complain, wanting something else! Home cooked food can truly be a taste of heaven on earth if our hearts understand, accept and appreciate one another! Warm hearts will value the efforts even when the food goes cold.

A home is truly a sweet home where Christ dwells within! Jesus lives with us! Everything is done in His presence. Children are happy to come to Him! No shouting, screaming, fighting and quarrelling! Nothing is done through secret agendas and motives! When the Lord is pleased, we will be okay.

Does Jesus live in our homes? Where two or three of us are gathered together in His name, He promises to be in the midst of us. Family worship is more than just singing some praise and worship songs and saying a few prayers. It is offering our lives as living sacrifices to Him! Walking in His light and living the life He has given us! In everything we do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! Let our ordinary life in every single day be a sweet aroma to Him! In our sleeping, waking, walking, talking, cooking, eating, working, playing and relaxing! Caring for one another. Love and be loved! Yes, in a home truly sweet and filled with His glory!

Written on: 19 July 2021