Last night at Bible Study group, we were reviewing the last part of the 11th chapter of Hebrews. As we were reading through the entire chapter, a verse jumped off the page and smacked me upside the head: "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." ( Hebrews 11:16)
I began to mull over this verse and turn it inside out by asking myself if God is not ashamed to be called their God, what would make Him feel ashamed to be called their God? The answer was right there in black and white: If they had not been "longing for a better country-a heavenly one".
Who are 'they'? What was it like where they lived? Why was God impressed with their longing for a "better country"? How often do we really long for a better country-a heavenly one?
The people listed previously in Hebrews 11—people like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, etc—lived as if there was truly a hell to shun and heaven to gain. They didn't sit around pining for heaven, but they lived convinced that God was able to do all that He promised, even if they died before the manifestation of their promises!
This has caused me to perk up. Is the record of my life one that speaks, "God is not ashamed to be called [her] God, for he has prepared a city for [her]"?
What about your life? Does your life bear record that there is indeed a hell to shun and a heaven to gain? Is your life the record of a journey toward a "better country-a heavenly one"?
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© Jan Ross 2007
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