Homeless-without a home, without a place to call one’s own, without a place of rest, a refuge, a door to close, a roof to shelter-it is a dreary, weary way to live. In our time it is becoming a bitter reality for many, many people. Some are refugees from terror or famine in their homelands, some are victims of natural disasters, and some have simply slipped into deep poverty without really understanding how it could have happened. But it is far from the worst that can happen!
The poorest man in all the world is the man who has no home for eternity.
No amount of wealth or luxury on earth can ever compensate for the loss of all things in eternity. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:3636For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36)).
Prosperity on earth, at the expense of bankruptcy of the soul, leads to everlasting remorse. There is no poverty like that which faces a lost soul in the bitterness of an eternity without Christ.
Better far to have nothing in this world, but to be “rich in faith”-faith in God, faith in Christ Jesus. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peace with God now, and a home in heaven afterward! Wonderful!
A makeshift hut in a refugee camp, a temporary cot in a shelter for the homeless, or even a spot on a grate where a little warmth seeps up in the winter or under an overpass or a bit of plastic in the rain—none of these are lasting. Even though homeless on earth, one who knows God as his Father and the Lord Jesus as his Savior can look forward and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.