Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Where True Faith Takes Us

HEBREWS 11:13-16 – These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 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.

THEME OF THE DAY. WHERE TRUE FAITH TAKES US. You know the experience. You are reading your Bible and then suddenly, the Spirit of God stops you dead in your tracks. You are drawn to a particular verse and its truth comes with force and clarity to your heart and mind. It might even be a verse or verses you have read hundreds of times. Well, it happened to me this week in the hundred and nineteenth Psalm and it was only seven words in a verse. It reads, “I am a stranger in the earth” (Psalm 119:19a). The dialogue with myself began to unfold, “Do you know God calls you a stranger in this world?” “Yes, I know that.” “Okay, let’s try again, ‘Do you live as a stranger in this world?’” That caused a lot less self-talk and a whole bunch of self-examination. Why don’t you join me in some personal examination of your life in answering the questions, “Do you know God calls you a stranger in this world?” and “Do you live as a stranger in this world?” Today’s scripture helps us out a lot.

First, to live by faith in the Lord is to know this world is not our home, in fact, we are far far from home. Today’s scriptures open up with believers who saw beyond and lived for the place of their real home – heaven. And that is what faith does. It always looks away from this life into the place of real life. The Christian whose faith is only operative to get through this life or rely on God for something in this life is falling short on where true faith is to take us. Saving faith places our minds, hearts, and wills on the Person of heaven, the Lord Jesus, and the place of heaven – the dwelling place of God. In fact, the Apostle Paul directs us to this type of faith living in his letter to the Colossians – If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1-3). Ask yourself the question. Is your faith more about using God in this life or is it taking you out of this life to where He is? If our faith is only about getting God’s help and blessings in this life, then our God is no more than a divine genie or spiritual vending machine giving us what we want from Him. That is not Biblical faith.

Next, true faith weans us from this world and generates a deep longing for the next world and the promised dwelling with God in that world. Go back and read today’s scripture, paying particular attention to the longing of those believers for heaven and the fulfillment of God’s promises to them. And it is to be the same for us. By exercising a faith looking to the future, we see the folly, foolishness, and futility of finding anything of lasting value in this present day. Faith weans us from a world of sin and prepares us for a world of holiness as we look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of the faith that looks beyond this world.

So, where is your faith taking you? Think about it. True faith takes us out of this world and does not leave us attached to the things of this fading world.

PRAYER: “Lord, deepen my desire to be with You in heaven that weakens the world’s temptation in my life.”

QUOTE: “Live as a pilgrim journeying through life. Live as a stranger in a foreign land for those define God’s children.”