Are You Building False Tabernacles or Coming Home to Christ?
The Longing for Home
We all long for a sense of home – a place where we feel accepted, understood, and at peace. Yet so often, we find ourselves building false “tabernacles” or substitutes for the true home our souls crave. These tabernacles take many forms – relationships, careers, possessions, or even religious rituals. We pour our energy into these pursuits, hoping they will satisfy the ache within us. But inevitably, they let us down, leaving us feeling empty and disillusioned.
The story of the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness offers a poignant metaphor for our own spiritual journeys. As they wandered for 40 years, God provided them with a tangible reminder of His presence – the Tabernacle, a portable tent where sacrifices were offered and God’s glory dwelt. This Tabernacle was a sacred space, a place where the Israelites could encounter the living God.
Yet even with this powerful symbol of God’s presence in their midst, the Israelites struggled to remain faithful. They were prone to wander, to define right and wrong on their own terms, and to rebuild their own false tabernacles of worship. Their hearts yearned for something more, something that external rituals and sacrifices could never fully satisfy.
Like the Israelites, we too are prone to wander. We take good things – relationships, careers, material possessions – and elevate them to ultimate importance, making them our functional “gods.” We construct elaborate rituals and rules around these false tabernacles, believing that if we just follow the right steps, we’ll find the fulfillment we crave.
But no matter how diligently we pursue these substitutes, they can never truly satisfy the longing in our souls. They are mere shadows, pale imitations of the true home we were created for.
The good news is that God has not left us to wander aimlessly. He has provided a way home, a true Tabernacle that transcends all others. This Tabernacle is not a physical structure, but a person – Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has torn down the barrier that separates us from the Father. He has become our High Priest, our mediator, and our advocate, offering His own blood as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. In Him, we find the cleansing and forgiveness our souls desperately need.
Yet even as we embrace this truth, we can still be tempted to rebuild false tabernacles. Perhaps we fall into a cycle of religious activity, believing that if we just pray enough, read our Bibles enough, or attend church enough, God will bless us. Or maybe we’re afraid to fully surrender our lives to Christ, fearing the cost of letting go of our cherished sins and idols.
Some of us may even construct tabernacles where our sin and brokenness are celebrated, seeking acceptance and love in all the wrong places. And others among us may simply feel too weary, too defeated, to believe that real change is possible.
But the truth is, real change is not only possible but promised to those who place their faith in Jesus. He alone can cleanse our consciences, removing the burden of guilt and shame that weighs us down. He alone can give us a new identity, one that cannot be taken away or tarnished by the false tabernacles of this world.
When we surrender our lives to Christ, we no longer have to strive endlessly to earn God’s favor or acceptance. We can simply rest in His love, letting go of the dead works and empty rituals that once enslaved us.
This doesn’t mean the journey will be easy. Tearing down the false tabernacles we’ve built can be painful and disorienting. But as we fix our eyes on Jesus, the true Tabernacle, we find the strength and courage to press on.
And as we do, we discover that the longing in our souls is finally satisfied. We have come home, not to a physical structure, but to the very presence of God Himself. In Christ, we are welcomed, accepted, and loved unconditionally.
This is the invitation extended to each of us today: to tear down the false tabernacles we’ve built and to come home to the true Tabernacle, Jesus Christ. It is here, and only here, that we will find the peace, fulfillment, and belonging our souls have been yearning for.
So let us not settle for dead works or empty rituals. Let us not be content to wander aimlessly, searching for scraps of acceptance and love in all the wrong places. Instead, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and let Him lead us home.
For in His presence, we are truly alive, truly free, and truly at peace. This is the promise extended to all who will come to Him in faith, exchanging their false tabernacles for the true and lasting home their souls were created for.