A Better Country

If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Heb 11:15-16)

Abraham left his home in Ur, and God promised that his descendants would one day possess the entire land of Canaan. Yet all their lives Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived in tents without any land to call home. They could have gone back to Ur if they wanted, but they did not. They were looking ahead to what God had promised. The author of Hebrews holds them up as examples of faith. We, too, have left the country of our birth and long for a new home in the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. I was born into the kingdom of the world, under the domain of the prince of this world, Satan. But God rescued me from darkness and made me a new creature in him. Now I am a citizen of God’s Kingdom. My eternal home is there, but for a while my tent is still pitched in this world. This passage prompts me to ask myself, where does my heart live? Am I longing for the new country or the old? Lord, help me to keep my heart firmly set on you and your Kingdom. I am here on this earth as your ambassador. One day you will claim it all again for your own. When that day comes I hope I will have led as many people as I can into your Kingdom, to live forever with you in your heavenly realm.