January 12 – The City With Foundations (Hebrews 11:8-10)

“He was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”(Hebrews 11:10)

IN WORD:
Those who sit in God’s fellowship regularly, meditating on His mind and accepting His love, will begin to view time in terms of eternity rather than the brief life we live on this broken planet. Rather than trying to build heaven in our few decades here, we will be freed to make sacrifices now, knowing that an everlasting heaven awaits us. We will make decisions not with present security and future retirement in mind, but with “forever” in full view. The Spirit of the eternal God will fill us with eternal thoughts.
What stands in the way of this perspective? FEAR. We are often afraid that we will not have enough to take care of our families and ourselves if we live “all out” for God. We wonder if God will lead us to hard fields or violent crosses as He did our Savior and His disciples. We fear the consequences of a completely Godward life. And so we build houses for now and hope for the eternal mansion down the road.
God’s promises allow us to go ahead and consider the mansion down the road as ours. We don’t have to obsess about our security now when we are assured of an everlasting home that cannot be taken away. We can put up with a few years of sacrifice, toil, pain, and service with the calm confidence that our ultimate citizenship is elsewhere. We are free to serve God at whatever cost, because nothing can cost us our inheritance. We know where this life is going to lead us and that it will never end.

IN DEED:
Forsake fear. Every Christian has in the back of his or her mind, from time to time, a little voice that cautions against a completely sacrificial life. That’s NOT God’s voice! His mind, which He shares with us, will overcome such thoughts. His Spirit, if we trust Him, will assure us that His promises are certain and that this present place is a place of joyful sacrifice. How do we receive such assurance? With an eternal perspective. We know what counts, and we can live with our sights set on the city with eternal foundations.

“The only way to get our values right is . . . To see things not in the light of time, but in the light of eternity.” -William Barclay-