Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.  Philippians 3:17-21

Many songs speak of being home for the holidays. There is the song that shares our title for our blog today. There is a song called There’s No Place like Home for the Holidays, there is another titled, I’ll Be Home For Christmas. I think it’s perfectly normal for us to want to be home for the Christmas holidays. We want to be around those that we love in order to share in the joy of the season. Sometimes for some of us, the holidays bring painful memories of those we have lost. But again, it’s best to be around those that have shared in that loss and that understand what we are going through.

I am sure that today and tomorrow the highways, the airports, and the train and bus stations will be filled with travelers going home for the holidays. Today I want to strongly encourage you to come home for Christmas and stay there. There is an old saying, “Home is where the heart is”, this is also a title of a movie which was released in the year 2000.

So I strongly encourage you today to assess your heart and think about where your heart is right now. Our scripture passage describes those who are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, whose glory is their shame and who set their minds on earthly things. It is so easy to become that person during the holiday season. It’s easy for our hearts to become hardened during this holiday season as people crowd into stores and struggle to find the perfect gift that perhaps they can’t afford. It’s easy for our appetite or our desire for more to become our god. This is a time of year when we focus on what we want. We may try to bring glory to ourselves by overspending. And I think that each and every one of us is guilty of setting our minds on earthly things as we worry about the gift buying, wrapping, distributing and the cooking. We focus on all that we have to do and become so busy doing that, that we fail to focus on the needs of others. We fail to take time for Christ. We stray from our heavenly home.

Many of you read the part of the scripture that says enemies of the cross of Christ and feel that you could never fit into that category, but I implore you to understand something. We are called to focus on God. We are called to trust in Him. When we lose focus of Him and set our minds on earthly things, it is easy to lose the love and the mercy and the kindness that He wants us to share with others. In Mark 9:40, Jesus told His disciples that “who is not against us is for us”. We are either for God or we are against God. If you think you are able to straddle the fence, you are sorely mistaken. You are either headed to your heavenly home or you are preparing to bust hell wide open. Our former pastor used to say that if we enter hell, we go as trespassers because we are intended to dwell in heaven with God the Father. God made us to live with Him.

Jesus tells His disciples in John 14:2 that in His father’s house there are many rooms and that He goes to prepare a room for us. He beckons us home. So, today I ask you, will you please come home for Christmas? Will you stay there? Will you set your focus on God and things above? 1 John 2:15-17 tells us not to love the world or the things in the world because if we love the world then the love of the Father is not in us.

If you are lost and wandering around in this lost world, come home. There is an old hymn that says, “Come home, ye who are weary come home. Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, oh sinner, come home.”

There’s no place like home for the holidays and there’s no better time to come home to Him than today. Run to the foot of the cross. Give your troubles and your worries and your heart over to Jesus. Trust in Him to take good care of you. Please, come home for Christmas.

Have a great day!