OUR EARTHLY HOMES ARE TEMPORARY

At least, that’s how we should think of them, if we’re true followers of Christ. As Kingdom of God dwellers, we can consider our home as being with Christ now, and forever in His eternal, heavenly home. What freedom that offers! May we walk in that freedom.

Eternal Perspectives               by Sally Bair

Temporary homes

I’ve lived in 26 houses. Three qualified as long-term residences, true homes, while others were short-term dwellings. Reminiscing, I wonder what “footprints” I left at each abode and how I reacted to the changes from one home to the next. Some brought happiness and peace, causing me to look back with fondness. A few were scary, both in layout of the house and my life experiences. Others caused angst and sorrow.

God’s people also moved often. Adam and Eve were ousted from their perfect home. Noah and his family and a host of animals were stuck in the ark for an entire year. Abraham, not knowing where God led him, obeyed nonetheless, without looking back. The Israelites, conversely, kept complaining how good things had been though enslaved by the Egyptians. Lot’s wife, forced to move quickly, turned to look back at what she might be missing. She turned into a pillar of salt.

During His days of ministry, Jesus lived wherever He could, sometimes sleeping under the stars. The place where He lay His head played second fiddle to the reason He was there, that of simply following His Father’s orders in drawing people to Himself.

People have asked me if I missed living in such and such a place. If I missed the spaciousness, the things I’d collected, the environment, the friends. On rare occasion I have felt brief sadness about a certain place and time. But I know that God’s Word tells me I have a much better home ahead. Jesus taught that we are not to become attached to things around us. Paul wrote, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, [our physical body] is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1) 

If we are believers in Christ, it shouldn’t matter what kind of house we live in now, we will move into a much greater one after our life on earth is over. Noah, the enslaved Israelites, and countless other biblical characters, knew their earthly homes were temporary. By faith they looked forward to the better home, the same eternal home we can look forward to when we’ve made Him our savior and Lord. Like them, we are mere “strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13) Like them, by faith in God’s promise of eternal life with Him, we “desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.” (verse 16)

Lord, thank You for the promise of a heavenly home, one far better than any earthly one where we might live. By faith and the power of Your Spirit, keep us ever mindful of Your perfect, heavenly home. In Jesus’ name, amen.