By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews 11:9-10 NKJV
Our Scripture passage today is speaking of Abraham. The first thing you should understand is Abraham was an extremely wealthy man. He could have lived in some palatial estate. He chose, however, to live in tents. Abraham understood that he was just passing through here on planet earth.
There are so many things to distract us here we sometimes forget that we are just visitors here. If you have accepted Christ as your Savior, your true citizenship is in heaven. Paul said in Philippians 3:20, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus said in John 14:2, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”
The devil wants us to be so distracted by all the evil in this world that we forget about the glory and the riches that await us in heaven. He wants to kill our witness, steal our joy and destroy any hope we have (John 10:10). When we focus on all that is wrong with this old, sinful world we make it easier for him to do this.
When we focus on Jesus Christ and what is above, we can prevent this distraction. Paul said in Philippians 4:8 we should focus on things that are true, noble, just, lovely, of good report, anything of virtue and anything praiseworthy. He said we should meditate on these things. He said when we do this, the God of peace will be with us.
My friend, we have a permanent home in heaven. All we have to do to get there is surrender our lives to Christ. Love Him with all your heart, soul, and strength (Matthew 22:37-39) and love others as you love yourself. Show your love through obedience to Him (John 14:15).
This may sound hard to do but think about what you do for earthly possessions. We give our all to our jobs so we can pay for all the things we want and need. We do this because of the instant gratification of a paycheck. I can tell you my friend that with Christ we get the instant gratification of peace and joy. We may experience hard times, but we get the benefit of having God there to lead and guide us through our troubles. We can rest assured if we love the Lord and are called according to His purpose, He is working all things out for our good (Romans 8:28).
Don’t get so bogged down in this world you forget what awaits you. This is temporary, but what awaits you is forever. Be sure what awaits you is way better than what you have here. To do this, trust in the Lord and obey His commands.
Revelation 21:4 describes heaven as a place where our tears will be wiped away and there will be no more death, no more mourning, or crying or pain. If you continue reading in Revelation 21, you can read about the walls made of precious stones, gates made of pearl and street of gold. This is what we can expect as our permanent home if we accept Christ as our Savior. Trust in Him today.
Have a great day!