Brave 11.19.20

Brave Devotional Series - Week 6 – Not So Grim Reaper – Pastor Mark White
A Peculiar Dichotomy
Hebrews 11: 9a (NIV)
"By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country."
Home.  That one word can mean so many things to so many people.

We moved to SOMD earlier this year, and for us, it is home. It's the place we lay our heads at night; it's where we can relax and be ourselves; it's where we look forward to returning at the end of a long trip—not because it's a house, but because it's a home.  Our home. "Home" can take many forms, but at the end of the day, your home is wherever you can say, "This is where I belong."

Except—what happens when you do not belong?

Followers of God have a long history of not quite belonging.
When Abraham entered the Promised Land, he did so as "a sojourner and foreigner."  Later, God led his descendants out of slavery and into that same Promised Land, but with a reminder: “you are strangers and sojourners with Me." Centuries later, King David would admit to God, "I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were." (Ps 39:12)
We are Sojourners, someone who lives away from home, and that is the key.
The sojourners of Hebrews 11 had their home in a different world, a Kingdom yet to come.

They viewed their time here as time away from their real home.
It is a peculiar dichotomy for us. We are born, live, and die in this world, but it is not our home.  
We wait, as Abraham did, "for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (v. 10) and to follow God and do His will—then we will join with those faithful heroes who came before us, waiting on the promises—waiting on their home.

And, that city will come. The New Jerusalem will descend "out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." And on that day, God will be able to say to all His children and us throughout the ages:

"Welcome home. This home is where you belong."