Home is Where the Heart Is

By Devin Dummel

It’s likely that at some point in your experience, somewhere you have stumbled across a sign that read “Home is where the heart is”.  It’s a saying that has been around for a long time and often when it’s stated it means that:  Wherever your heart is, that place is your true home.  The place that you feel most appreciated and loved, is the place where you feel most comfortable.

It’s not necessarily your house, or a building made of bricks, mortar, stone or wood – but it’s wherever your heart feels most at peace.  It really can be anywhere.  You may feel most at home at a friends’ house, or you may feel most at home hidden away in the library.  Where ever it is that you feel most content, that is where your heart is.

This is a traditional understanding of this statement, but I want to encourage you and even challenge you to think about this idea of “home is where the heart is” in a different light altogether.

We believe that God has created two very powerful influences that He desires to use strategically in the life of every child.  Theses influences are the family and the church.  They both exist because God initiated them, and He desires to use them to restore and redeem our broken world.

We believe that the church is designed to be God’s bright light to the world, uniquely and strategically displaying God’s glory for all to see.  And we believe that God designed the family to demonstrate the warm heart of God.

God designed the family, even in its imperfection, to display the heart of God to every generation.  It’s his plan and desire that His heart would be communicated primarily through the heart and love of the family.  That’s why parents are the primary influence in the life of every child.

Understanding these two influences, what could it look like to understand the idea of “Home is where the heart is” through the lens of how God designed the family?  Specifically, when we say “Home is where THE heart is” – what we could really be saying is: “Home is where God’s heart is.”  It’s has always been God’s design that the family would be a consistent witness to the next generation.  Even early on God instructed His people, to make sure that His heart was known and passed down from generation to generation.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates. 

God understood the role of the home, which makes sense because He designed the influence of the family.  And one of the most crucial roles that the family plays – that our homes are responsible for – is to be a witness to the next generation about who God is and what it looks like to live a life that honors Him.

You may not realize this, but what you do in your home each week matters.  You may not view it this way, but when you think about it – you are always making history in the life of your child.  What you do every week, through your normal routines and rhythms adds up and give you momentum in the life of your children.

You are the living, breathing, walking, talking, pinch your cheeks to prove that you are real, witness for Christ every week at home.  And while that may seem like a lot of pressure, it reality is it is a great opportunity. 

You are the greatest influence in the life of your child – so you can impress upon them the heart of God.  You can talk with them around the table, when you drive to school or sports, and when they wake up of before the go to bed.  You can find creative ways around your house to “tie symbols” and “paint doorframes”.  You can make sure that they experience and know the heart of God consistently.  You can make sure that YOUR home is where God’s heart is.”  And that will make all the difference in the life of your child … and even in this world.