Hebrews 13:14
For we do not have a permanent city here, but we are looking for the city that is coming.
Applying God’s Word for today: Anticipating our eternal home
Does anyone really enjoy moving? It’s nice to have routines established, knowing where you shop, where you service your vehicle, and where you go to relax. Whether you’ve been in the same house your entire life or have moved from place to place, at the end of the day, that is not your permanent home. Even if someone was born, lived 100 years, and died in the same house, it still was not a permanent home. Because in death, they are no longer at that location; it has become someone else’s or has been torn down. When you realize how quickly life passes, and then you reach its end, you also see how temporary this life truly is.
When you consider the challenges of life and what we endure during its struggles, would you want it to be any worse? For those who reject God’s love, their permanent home will be eternal, never-ending suffering in hell. This becomes their home because they choose to reject the forgiveness Jesus won for them on the cross.
However, for the believer, the writer of Hebrews wrote, “We are looking for the city that is to come.” In God’s word, he tells us how this city comes to us, and it is through faith in Christ our Savior. Jesus suffered for all our sins. He took them into himself and removed them from us. They were a wedge that divided and pushed us away from the Father. In Jesus’ suffering and death, he took the world’s sins into himself so that all who believe in him have eternal life in heaven. Forgiveness unlocks the gates of heaven, and as Jesus told the criminal hanging next to him, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Our temporary death is no longer something to fear because it is the entry into our eternal home in heaven, where there is no pain, suffering, sickness, disease, or sin. This home is yours by faith in Jesus.
Dear Lord God, grant us patience as we await our heavenly home that is coming. We thank you that Jesus told us he would prepare a place for us. Please forgive us all our sins and strengthen our faith through Your word and sacraments. May we have the confidence to share with others this city that is coming, the promise of heaven that is ours by faith, and the peace of salvation that is ours through faith in our Savior, Jesus. Amen.
In this life, nothing is permanent, no matter how long it lasts, but with the one who is eternal—who has no beginning or end—there is a lasting presence. Trust in Him who is, has been, and always will be.