Home Sweet Home

I will never truly belong here. The color of my skin will not allow it. I stand out. It is a truth that cannot be denied. When I walk down the streets, people stare. They say “mzungu” which means “white person.” They speak to me in Swahili and laugh when I respond. They watch me as if I am some strange creature from a foreign land. This can be difficult to accept. It is in our human nature to want a place to fit in. We want to belong. We want to be accepted. No matter how hard I try, I can never be a Tanzanian.

But that is not what God has called me to. He has not called me to make this my home. My home is in heaven. This is just a temporary place. As Christians, we are all aliens and strangers to this world. We do not belong here. We do not fit in here. Many times, we are not accepted here. So how do we respond? Do we follow God’s command to “be holy as He is holy?” Or do we find ourselves “conforming to the ways of this world?”

Many times, I try hard to blend in with the Tanzanians. But just as I cannot belong to this country, we cannot belong to this “world.” God has called me to be different. He has called me to be set apart. He has called me to serve Him on this earth until He calls me home. Until then, my heart will make its home with Jesus no matter where my physical body may live.

Where do you choose to call home?

“By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God… All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance; and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:8-10, 13-16