Avoid Spiritual Homelessness!
Psalm 68:6 affirms that God “sets the solitary in families,” and the greatest manifestation of such reality is found in His provision of the universal Church. There, through the ages, He continues to gather all His redeemed, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.
Physical homelessness, unfortunately, has been a reality for a long time in every major metropolis around the world and even in some smaller cities. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. had devoted her best years in caring for the poorest of the poor, many of whom were born in the streets, lived all their life in the streets, and died in the streets. She established a home for the dying to enable several to end their days with a dignity they had never experienced on earth, since birth.
In the spiritual realm, God saves human beings individually while showing His intention that each be nurtured in a Christian congregation for their advancement and growth in faith. That’s why God’s people cherish “the communion of the saints” as affirmed in the Apostles’ Creed.
St. Cyprian, an early Church Father from North Africa, along with other early Christian leaders, affirmed that “one cannot have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother.” Indeed, it is in her bosom that one is fed and led on in the Christian trajectory set for every disciple en route to maturity.
For that reason, one needs an identifiable spiritual home where to remain under its nurture and discipline, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25). The local church remains a Christian’s visible spiritual habitat on earth, though ultimately it is “in Christ,” “in heavenly places” that God’s redeemed claim as their true dwelling place.
Of all human institutions, the local congregation is to be viewed differently by its members. It is not a club where one pays dues and attends some functions if and when convenient, or visit its location in times of dire personal need. Some consider taking advantage only of the fringe benefits, instead of the more substantive offers always available.
The plight of the physically homeless entails poverty, hunger, lack of shelter and other life necessities. In many ways that condition stemmed from wrong decisions and choices made, leading to more serious consequences which many cannot overcome.
At home, most of its residents find the needed ingredients to grow and thrive in life. The same is available spiritually to those who seek to grow in faith, life, and knowledge of what God has revealed, via the ministrations of a healthy congregation. As the late James Montgomery Boice wrote, “Our true roots are in God. If we will not have God, we are condemned to be vagabonds” i.e. homeless.
As the apostle Paul declared, it is “together with all the saints” (Ephesians 3:19) that one can better grasp all aspects of the faith. And Patrick M. Morley correctly adds that “the best insurance against wrong living is right doctrine.” This reality is best experienced in and through the communion of the saints, not the circulation of the saints - the spiritual drifters - who make themselves victims to spiritual homelessness! One needs one local church as home because it is the repository of the Truth that sets one free!
