Verse: Hebrews 11:16
16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Devotional Thoughts:
This is an exciting time of the year, right? Thanksgiving is this week, and in the next month many of us will be traveling for Christmas. Holidays tend to bring about a sense of nostalgia and desire to return home. If you’ve ever noticed, movies play this up to comedic effect. That’s why it’s so hilarious to watch Clark Griswold essentially claim that he wants he and his entire family to have the best Christmas ever, just to see it all go awry. Or to watch (and laugh) as Steve Martin’s character desperately try to make it home for Thanksgiving, but John Candy’s character continues to accidentally thwart his plans. These holidays tend to bring about a yearning, a desire to go home to family, or have family come home to you.
The reality is that underneath that desire there is a longing for our true home.
But this longing for our true, heavenly homeland comes through in other ways as well. The way we remember seasons in our life as being much grander than they truly were. Or the awe that comes from standing before something beautiful and magnificent, such as the Grand Canyon. C.S. Lewis says that things such as these “are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”
It is all a recollection of somewhere we’ve never been. A memory of somewhere we are yet to go.
Points to Ponder:
Christian, God has prepared for you a home. Jesus himself says in John 14:2-3:
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? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself,that where I am you may be also.
And here’s some glorious news for all those who trust in Jesus – no matter how bad life is at the moment or how good life currently is – better days are always ahead. This is something that we can, and should, rejoice in and take comfort in. You haven’t seen your best days yet. I haven’t seen mine. The best is yet to come.
And that’s what we really long for, what we truly look forward to. Again, Lewis remarks, “There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else.”
I want to leave you with one final thing. In Revelation 21:3-4, John heard a loud voice from the throne saying:
3 Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
