In the passage this week, we learned that Abraham, who was living in the land of the Hittites at the time of Sarah’s death, wanted to buy a piece of land in which to bury her. The people there considered him a “prince” among them and wanted to give him the burial place for free. Yet Abraham insisted on paying for the land. Although he lived among the Hittites and got along well with them, he didn’t see himself as one of them. He considered himself a foreigner in that land.
In Hebrews 11:9-10, we read, “Abraham, although he was living in the land God had promised him, still lived there by faith, for he was like a foreigner living in tents. Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations — a city designed by God.”
The New Testament repeatedly reminds us that this world is not our home. We live here in this life on earth, and yet we are told that once we place our faith in Christ, our citizenship is actually transferred from the kingdom of the world into God’s eternal kingdom. It’s mind-boggling, yet it’s true. How can we explain this? How can our feet be here now, and it not be our home? This spiritual truth might be difficult to explain, but I believe it explains a lot about us.
It explains why we can become disillusioned with life on this earth. It’s why we are grieved when we see evil that, in our spirit, we know should not happen. It’s why when we achieve something — a level of success, or some other goal — the joy from that achievement eventually fades. We long to be married, and yet even in the best of marriages, we can still feel unloved at times. We long for children, and yet with parenting, we discover new disappointments and even griefs. It isn’t that success, marriage and family aren’t good things. They are wonderful blessings from the Lord! But they are not our ultimate and final home.
I love the quote from C.S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity: “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
And truly, we were made for another world.
I need that reminder, especially when I gaze too long at this world. With TV, the Internet and social media, it’s very easy to get discouraged by the things we see and hear. My husband is great at reminding me, “This isn’t our home.”
My first reaction to his reminder is to sigh and lament, “But how long can it go on?”
Then I think of the many ways God reminds me of his presence. He really is here with us every moment of every day. If our eternal life with him has already begun, which his word says that it has, then the blessings of this life are not my only hope. They are kisses from Heaven. I believe God wants us to see them as such. He wants us to see them as reminders of the hope we have in him. And all of the sad things of this world cannot change who we are or whose we are.
He is our Forever Home. How much more will he care for us as we sojourn in this land as foreigners? As an old hymn puts it, “This world is not my home. I am just a-passing through.”
Judy Linscheid
EFCC Member