Living Here, Longing for Home

Nantucket Lighthouse-Brant Point: With my sidekick

 

It’s just over a week after our return from a family trip in Cape Cod. It was a perfect trip—great food, lots to do that everyone enjoyed, and best of all we had time with all of our kids and 2 grands. Despite the fun, it’s good to be home, especially since I’ve been bouncing from one place to another for the past month. 

Just as Cape Cod is not my home here on earth, my earthly home is not my permanent home either. Hebrews 13:14 (ESV) For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

If you are a Christian, you are first a citizen of heaven. That is your forever home. While our time may begin to feel permanent, 70 to 100 years is nothing in light of eternity.

I’ve been reading through Hebrews in preparation for a fall study on Hebrews I’ll be leading. If you’ve read my devotional book, Starry Night, you know that Hebrews is one of my favorite books of the Bible because of the way it ties together the Old and New Testaments of the Bible while showing how Jesus is the connecting thread from beginning to end. 

This idea that Earth is not our home is often forgotten as we go about our daily lives. We say with our mouths that heaven is our eternity. But do we live like it? We get so caught up in our wants and needs and the demands here on earth that heaven seems like a distant, imaginary place. What if we loved God so much that we lived with longing to be fully in His presence?

I’m not suggesting we skirt through this life here on earth with minimal involvement because it’s not our home. That’s not what God shows us in His Word at all. There is so much that we can do to His glory and to the betterment of people in this world. In the Garden of Eden, He put man in charge as a caretaker, and in the New Testament, Jesus commissioned his people to spread the gospel. Those are worthy tasks that will grow God‘s kingdom and make much of Him.

Just like when we travel, we plan, pack, and take what’s necessary, but we do it all knowing that we are returning home. We don’t empty our bank accounts, leaving nothing for the return home (hopefully!). In the same way, we pour into this life on Earth, yet loosely hold onto the things that don’t last, and store up treasures for our future.

One of my favorite sections of scripture is this:

Mark 12:28-31 (ESV) And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Living here with a heart for our future should give us a desire to point the people God has placed in our lives to Christ, so they too can have such a great eternity to look forward to, and to show them love and kindness. That is how we store up our treasure here on earth. People are the only thing we can take to heaven. The Bible is clear that everything else will burn up.

It can be a challenge to strike that balance between living in the now and preparing and anticipating the future. Thankfully, God equips us for the places He has us, both through spiritual gifting and the fruit of the Spirit. The gifts are specific to each person, and the fruit is available to all. Both require us to battle the flesh daily and let the work of the Holy Spirit shine through us. 

Just like when I’m on vacation, I can appreciate the location I’m visiting while also thinking fondly of what waits at home, we as Christians can do the same as we live our daily lives here—love God and draw near to Him (read His Word & pray daily to know Him better) and love others by serving them and sharing the gospel. How can you live fully in the moment while joyfully anticipating the future—a future when we will walk with God and see Him face to face as He intended?

I encourage you to read all of Hebrews 11 through 12:2 and see what God shows you. For now, I leave you the verses below.

Hebrews 11:8-10 (ESV) By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

This blog is brought to you by Kim Griffin, author of Christian fiction with romance and Bible studies. Find out more about Kim and her books and sign up for her newletter for free books, Bible studies, updates, and more at KimGriffin.org .