This World Is Not My Home
This past weekend, I had the honor and the privilege of accompanying a group of people from Crossing Community Services in their Saturday morning ministry "Takin' it to the Streets." It was a stretch for my personal comfort zone to be with the homeless people as we handed out warm drinks, healthy food and other necessities. I was confronted in a very real way with my own personal prejudices and self centeredness. How do these people survive on the street? How sad it is that they don't have a home to go to and that they carry all they own with them and live in makeshift areas. I was moved by the experience of caring for other people's physical needs and also being able to offer such a sense of kindness by talking to these often forgotten people - shaking their hand and looking them in the eye - valuing them just because they are beloved lost lambs of God. I was humbled and touched at the sincerity of the others from the Church. They spoke with these people in such a tender way and were able to turn each conversation into an opportunity to talk about God's saving grace through a relationship with his son.
The concept and the reality of homelessness have stayed on my mind all week. After all, what do I have in common with those I had encountered? Everything! Christians have a unique commissioning in life. We are advised not to get comfortable here in this physical place; we are told to live by the spirit; we are reminded to invest in the eternal. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21) Let's illustrate this point a little further. Let's say that you have invited a friend over for dinner. When your friend arrives, she begins rearranging your furniture and setting out her family photos and even begins talking of changing the color of paint on your walls. Of course, you would ask your friend just exactly what she thinks she's doing. This is not her home! She should work to improve her own place. In the same way, why are we working so hard to establish our life on earth? Why do we struggle to be comfortable, wealthy and well liked here? This is not our home! "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul." (1 Peter 2:11)
I thank God that he has provided for me in this life. He has provided friends, family, income and even a roof over my head. But praise God that he has also provided a hope for what is better than this life, better than I could ever imagine. As I look toward heaven and strive to have my affections for this world in their proper perspective, the Hebrews writer encourages me in what he says in chapter 11 verses 13 thru 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. And they admitted that they were aliens 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." Let us trust that God will provide for our needs knowing that we really are homeless in this life while we look forward to and long for our heavenly home.
"For where your treasure is there your heart is also".....where is your treasure? Where is your heart?
Jada
Then the King will say to those on his right. Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me.
MATTHEW 25:34-36