by David Brenneman
Consider this in Hebrews 11:13-16 NASB
I have not checked or looked it up, but have to wonder if this passage had something to do with the hymn by the same name as this post.
"This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through,
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue;
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.
Refrain:
O Lord, You know I have no friend like You,
If heaven’s not my home, then, Lord, what will I do?
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.
They’re all expecting me, and that’s one thing I know—
My Savior pardoned me, and now I onward go;
I know He’ll take me through though I am weak and poor,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.
I have a loving Savior up in glory-land,
I don’t expect to stop until I with Him stand;
He’s waiting now for me in heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.
Just up in glory-land we’ll live eternally,
The saints on every hand are shouting victory,
Their songs of sweetest praise drift back from heaven’s shore,
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore."
Are you? Are you working hard at what it is that God's got for you to be doing for Him or are you doing your best to make this world home?
We've been to many hotels in 20 plus years. Most have all the good amenities. Most had pools and a breakfast. All had televisions in the room. Good things but it wasn't home.
We have had extended stays at wonderful cabins. Beautiful scenery. Yet it wasn't home.
Even after such things we got home and there was just something about sleeping in our own bed.
It's oh so easy, especially in a world of keeping up with the Jones's, in keeping up appearances, to spend our time, energy and effort into remoulding the world around us into our own image of what it should be like.
Some inevitably come to a moment of downsizing. They have 2 vehicles, a two car garage and can't get 1 into it. You go through their home and it's got stuff everywhere. Sometimes a path to each room.
But it isn't home to Believer's in Christ Jesus. What we read here in Hebrews ought to be true of Believer's today.
We easily fall into traps that cause our finances to keep going towards paying off purchases to pay for what we did to handle an emergency or to pay for something we really didn't need or could have waited for. It often is the result of the unexpected as well. Or trying to make someone else happy.
People often wonder about giving at a Church. They are often some of those whom it pains them to put something in an offering yet will go out after the service to a $30 and up meal. Oh how people have developed misplaced priorities.
This world isn't our home. In Christ indeed we are passing through. We are here and not immediately taken at our receiving salvation because it would benefit ourselves and others by our transformation process as written in Romans. Our journey in Christ while we live is to cause others to see their own need for salvation in Christ.
Another hymn..."This little light of mine". Most don't need the rest of the words.
Children are taught that one but it's the adults who really need to remember it.
The Great Commission is about the light of Jesus Christ in us being shown to the world, of making Disciples.
Those alive in Christ Jesus right now ought to be expecting the return of Jesus Christ at any time. The parables of Jesus concerning this ought to be on the minds of those who believe. To be ready, eagerly, for His return. To be available now for the work He has for us to be doing rather than living for self, thinking that His return is a long way off.
There too is the passage of not loving the world nor the things in the world. There are no U-Haul's on caskets. Nobody with the most toys when they die wins. The only thing that goes with you into the presence of Jesus is what you did in the body of Christ for Christ Jesus.
My Mom's spoken many times of a lesson that she says that it was God who taught her. Don't get attached to things. She loved a particular vehicle we used to have and God used a drunk driver to destroy it. To her that was a strong lesson in not loving things in this world.
People get enraged at physical things being damaged or destroyed.
People get excessively emotional about family heirlooms being broken, sold, given away or lost.
Yet they do not consider that this world isn't our home. We have a home awaiting us in Heaven made by our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Consider this: HE is waiting for us with a hopeful expectation of telling us "Well done!", but in your case and mine, will that be what we hear? Will our lives be so wrapped up in self that we forgot this isn't home, that we have a life in Christ that has a purpose?
Personally, the last year and a half have been eye opening to me on my attachments to this world. We had a huge surge in separation from things a year ago when we were preparing to move. We all probably have relatives or friends who have passed on who have honestly left a mess. So much stuff to find a new home for. Nobody took anything with them.
Reread that passage. Think about what you are doing in the life given to you in Christ. Are you taunting God by your choices? Are you being a Disciple with an eye on reaching others for Jesus? By taunting you are still engaging in sinful ways that are against God's Word, maybe asking for forgiveness for them yet you persist in doing them willingly. You have convinced yourself that there's nothing wrong with those things even though God's Word is pretty clear about them.
When we let go we will find there's more time to spend and for some that lack of activity feels like an empty void. Be intentional in those moments to go to Jesus. We don't need to fill our lives and garages with self.
Jesus said His yoke is easy and His load is light. Yet we pile on things in life instead straining to cry out to God "It's ok! I got this! No problem here!" as we are in danger of it all really crashing down on us.
We don't know what His load is like because we've never gone there to take that upon our shoulders.
Paul taught of running a race. The end being in Heaven. He spoke of not being entangled in the things of this world.
In what ways have you willingly been entangled in this world?
Are you so busy that you have no time for God?
Are your activities about you or about learning to be who He intended you to be in Christ?
Are your pursuits about making this world your home or in looking forward to your home in Heaven?
Things to consider for sure.
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