What Are You Looking Forward To?

Hebrews 11:8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

What are you looking forward to? You may say the next home, the next car, the next journey, or the next adventure. According to the above verses Abraham was looking forward to a city with eternal foundations. Amazing! Abraham obeyed God when called to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. Abraham didn't know "where" he was going but he trusted, or had faith, in God.

A huge part of this faith walk for believers is trusting God above everything. Trust God more than human impressions, more than human trends, more than human doubts, more than anything. JUST TRUST GOD! This kind of faith was counted in Abraham's account and it translated into righteousness. Keep in mind Abraham had heavenly desires that were far beyond any land God could have given him. Abraham did not know where God was taking him, but he had faith that God's ways were better than his, and he was right. Abraham was still a foreigner in the land God had given him, living in tents, instead of homes with foundations. He passed this way of life down to Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. God gave them this land to live in with the thought that He had a better place for them. A permanent home in a city designed and built by God.

For those of us who are born again we look to that same heavenly home and our looking forward to that city built by God keeps our faith intact. When I was 14 years old my dad told me he was going to buy a sulky for me to ride behind my little pony. This sulky was a fun mode of transportation and Dad knew I wanted it. My Dad was an auctioneer and he sold a horse sale in a faraway town where the man who made the sulkies would bring them to the sale. So Dad told me he was going to buy me one if the man was at the sale. My anticipation of my Dad coming home was on the highest alert and I stayed up until my mom made me go to bed. But I didn't go to sleep. I would sit by my window and look out to the driveway to watch for my dad pulling up with my sulky in his truck. I waited and watched and the clock struck one am, two am, three am, and I had fallen to sleep when I heard a vehicle in the driveway and I woke up to see my Dad's truck pull up with my new sulky on the back. I jumped out of bed and ran out to the amazement of my Dad! Dad said, "Have you been waiting all this time?" To which I nodded yes, and went over and touched the red sulky seat and I remember saying, Thank you, God!

This anticipation was surely pale in comparison to the one that Abraham had as he longed for the city promised by God. His faith was made complete by what he was looking to receive. Abraham realized his time on this earth was just a short journey before the eternal journey promised by God, the one Abraham trusted above all else. Paul had a very strong understanding of Abraham's righteousness through faith, and a very strong understanding of the faith he had in Jesus' righteousness given to him and all who receive Him. Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bend my knees before the Father,15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self,17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.

I look forward to heaven and know that my time on this earth cannot be too permanent because I am looking forward to the day when I also see the city God has built for me to live in. My foundation is Jesus Christ, and in that foundation, I live as a foreigner in the land of the living, but one day I will see the true foundation of my life and receive the home prepared just for me. Praise God for His promises and praise God for giving me this faith through Jesus.

The Pilgrimage Continues

David Warren