Saturday, September 3, 2016

{Book Review} "Home: How Heaven and the New Earth Satisfy Our Deepest Longings" by Elyse Fitzpatrick


Rating: 5/5
"Perhaps Christians are the most consistently homesick people because they know this world (as it is) isn't their true home" (Fitzpatrick 33).

What do you think of when you hear the word "home"? I admit that I've never felt at "home" in the city I currently live in, so for me, the word "home" usually reminds me of Nashville because that's where I  often feel homesick for. 

Of course most Christians recognize that the Earth in its current state isn't our permanent home. We all know that death is imminent and that those with a relationship with God will go to be with the Lord after death. But then what? Fitzpatrick wrote Home to help Christians understand what the Bible has to say about Heaven. She also wrote it with the intent of making Christians homesick for our eternal Home. She succeeds at both tasks. In the introduction, Fitzpatrick writes, "These moods of nostalgia and this longing for some just-out-of-reach settledness are actually just symptoms of homesickness" (21). 

Home walks readers through what Scripture reveals about Heaven. It is organized into twelve chapters, and each chapter concludes with thought-provoking reflection questions. The chapters progress from topics about being homesick to Paradise to the New Earth that Christians will eventually inhabit with Jesus. Fitzpatrick addresses many questions that Christians often have, such as what happens to believers who die before the New Earth is established.  

Everything Fitzpatrick writes about Heaven and the New Earth is based on Scripture, and verses fill many pages throughout the book. All of the Scripture leads me to recognizing that the homesickness I feel is for an Earth where pain and suffering will be no more, where goodbyes won't be for forever, and where God's plan for the Earth will be restored. Home is a book that will ignite your passion for living for things above, not things of this world.


I received a copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.





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