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If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  John 14:23

You may remember Dorothy in Wizard of Oz repeating, “There’s no place like home,” while clicking the heels of her ruby red slippers three times. People from caring homes will agree, there is no place like home. It is a place where your family or housemates support you and help you through rough times and celebrate with you in good times. A caring home is a safe place. And home is a base of operation for living. It is a place where you are always welcome to return.   

This kind of home is a picture of what the Father wants with His people. He wants to make His home with them. Jesus said if you love Him and keep His word, Father God will love you and make His home in you. Then you have a relationship similar to that in a caring home, a place to feel safe, to be strengthened, and to share in celebrations. A home base you can return to as you live your life. It is a place where you feel loved and welcome.   

Often believers fall into the negative orientation of performance instead of cultivating the family orientation. Someone who is performance-oriented worries about measuring up and never feels quite safe or accepted. Someone who is family-oriented knows that the family is in life together, flaws and all. Thank your Heavenly Father for inviting you into His family, and for His love, support, and strength. Pray for the United States to continue to be a safe place for churches to meet, worship the Lord, and be a home away from home. 

Today’s Verse: John 14:23

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: 1 John 3:1-3, 16-24 

3 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 

19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. 

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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