Would you ever make your home somewhere you didn’t want to be? Would you choose to live somewhere you didn’t actually like? That might seem like an unfair question to the Chicago area natives reading this who are just now beginning to check wind-chill forecasts before they walk out the door each morning. But really — why would we ever make our lives somewhere that we didn’t truly love, admire, and appreciate?

That’s what this passage is about. What gift did Heaven give to Earth when Jesus was born? It was the gift of home — a place to remain, to rest, and to be restored — and that home is in His love.

The question is: do you want to live there?

The pathway to that residence, as we see in this verse, is by an adherence to the things that Jesus says are good. I love that Jesus doesn’t use condemning language here. He doesn’t say “if you break my commandments, you will lose my love.” That would make him a legalistic rule monger — which He is not.

Instead, He invites us to a life of keeping His commandments. What are those commandments? Jesus said there were two that summed up all the others: (1) we love God and (2) we love other people as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). Imagine a life in which those two things became your deepest desires.

No, really. Stop. And imagine. 

What would occupy your mind? What would you experience? What would your time go towards? How would you spend Saturday night? How would those around you be upheld, dignified, encouraged, and given peace?

When you’re living in this, you aren’t earning God’s love. You’re already experiencing it. You are (as this passage says) remaining in it. 

Put simply: do you want to live daily in the rest and abiding love of the Kingdom of God? Arrange your life in such a way that every interaction is overflowing with love, respect, and attention for God and others. When you choose to engage the things of Heaven right where you already are, you have found your home in His love and you are invited to remain there.