Home, Sweet, Home

Finished reading The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller a few weeks ago.
Sheeessss. That book was a LOT.

It was basically a break down of the parable of the prodigal son, which Keller believes should be called the prodigal sons. He mentions the lostness of the younger brother, then his gracious welcome back to the family by his father, the blatant message of the parable. But then he goes into detail about the lostness of the elder brother, an issue which is sometimes mentioned, usually glossed over though. This parable has been used as a way of showing the people in this world who are deep in sin, that there is always a way for them to come back home because of grace and God would be delighted to welcome them there, holding a feast and killing the fatted calf. What is missed out though, is the fact that the elder brother does not go to the party, he does not make it to heaven, or rather we do not know if he does. And the reason for this is not because of his outright disregard for laws, his disobedience, his disrespect, disloyalty to his father. No, it's almost because he is too good. This son represents the Pharisees, of whom there are many in the modern day. For them, it is their "goodness", their "unmarked slate" that stops them from entering the Kingdom of heaven. They are self-righteous and they become their own saviour. They are living a lie. There is a danger that, because they are so self-reliant and proud of themselves for being impeccable in a moral, legalistic sense, they will feel like God owes them something and will judge others who get what seems undeserved. When it actual fact, any blessing anyone receives, grace and salvation themselves, are undeserved. 'Why didn't I get that promotion? I've been to church every Sunday since I was born, been praying since I could talk and I always give to the poor. So and so got a pay rise at work and I didn't see him with his hands up at church on Sunday, he didn't even get there on time! He's not a true worshipper like me.'

Ohmygosh yeah. You get the point. Didn't mean to digress there lol.

What stuck out for me however, as Keller went on to write about other things, the human condition of Sehnsucht - a German word which has no direct English translation, but it portrays profound homesickness or longing, but with transcendent overtones.

He quotes C.S. Lewis,

"Our life-long nostalgia, our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside, is no mere neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation.'

These thoughts inspired the following poem;

Home

They say home is where the heart is,
I say home is where my Father is
That's why I'll never have a complete sense of getting there
Because there isn't here,
On this messed up version of Earth
But we'll be there soon
A home where tears are but a myth and suffering does not exist
Where there's no more hunger, just feasts
Where there's no more 'just war', just peace
Where the sun doesn't shine because His glory is sufficient
And He'll be standing right before us, no visions
Life as He had meant it to be
We were created for His glory,
Worship will never cease
and with ease we'll give Him all that He deserves
We'll be breathing perfection,
everything as it should be
It'll all make sense suddenly
and we'll fully realise the complete wonder of our Lord, His majesty
God gave us the gift of life and we were made for such a time as this
Right now, we see but, glimpses of heaven and beautiful as they are,
home won't feel like home until the gates are opened and like oil we pour in
It'll be like a child in a sweet shop or an art-collected entering a gallery of his favourite works
But we are the favourite works,
We're the grand design, glistening like a teardrop in Daddy's eyes
For now we'll live our lives in eager anticipation
for the moment when the world is put right
and we make it Home

<3