ESOCS Devotional 29 December 2022
TEXT: HEBREWS 13:7-16
MEMORY VERSE: “For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.” Hebrews 13:14
0 And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 11 But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. 12 When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted lace ”
One of the world’s most popular gospel singers, Jim Reeves in his song sang:
This world is not my home,
I am just passing through,
My treasures are laid up,
Somewhere beyond the blue,
The angels beckon me,
From heaven’s open door,
And I can’t feel at home,
In this world any more.
Yes! The world is a temporary abode for believers. For those who truly love the Lord and worship Him in spirit and in truth, their hope is that they would go to be with Him someday. They have no joy in this world. They feel trapped here and look forward to that time when they would be liberated from the shackles of sin and death. The troubles of life make it most uncomfortable. Therefore, their hearts yearn already for heaven. The world is not their home, they say; they are just passing through it to a home on yonder shore.
Abraham, the patriarchs, matriarchs, and disciples felt the same at a time. They saw themselves as pilgrims who were on a homeward journey. They were looking forward to a city that was not built with hands but by the divine architecture of God. Because this was so, they set their minds on the things in heaven. The Scripture says, “And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them” (Heb. 11:15 & 16). They saw themselves as strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Heb. 11:13).
The apostle Peter, when he wrote a letter to Christians that were scattered in certain places during the era of the great dispersion of the disciples because of persecutions at Jerusalem, addressed his letter: “To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1 Pet. 1:1); and then he appealed to them and said, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11). Like the patriarchs and matriarchs, the thinking of the believers at that time was that the world was a temporary abode. They did not see it as a permanent place where they could make or accept as their home. The felt that they were in a strange place; and one day they were definitely going to go back to where they came from; and that is heaven. Let’s reason like them.
CHALLENGES
- What do you think about your stay in the world today?
- That motivates you to think the way you do about your stay?
PRAYERS: Pray that you may always remember that life on earth is very brief and that you may not waste it on worldly pleasures.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
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ESOCS Devotional 29 December 2022
