Hebrews 11: 13-16

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 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.

The verses prior to these reflect on Abraham and Sarah and their great faith. While they never literally saw the thousands of offspring God promised them, they never lost faith that somehow it would happen. They knew there was more than just life on earth, with its fleeting pleasures and heartaches. In these verses we see that we were designed with a natural desire for more! More than this life!

That ache for the eternal can be overwhelming at times. Especially when we feel estranged in our own lives. Like foreigners, looking for a place to belong. We’re being lied to that this is home...Maybe we’ve even begun to settle in and forget what’s beyond here. Friends, our true Home is far more grand and fulfilling than any of this.

I believe we are our best selves here on earth if we keep in mind that we are not of this country. Brace yourself, friend… We are actually kings and queens of a distant, shining land. And it is our destiny to represent our true Kingdom while we’re visiting this place. We mustn’t change citizenship while we’re in these foreign lands! We have to press on. “Onward and upward,” as C.S. Lewis puts it in the Chronicles of Narnia. Onward and upward!