Where Is Your Forever Home?
By Lynette Kittle
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal”—2 Corinthians 4:18
Countless viewers love watching the house hunting shows on HGTV, where many of the home seekers are searching for their “forever homes,” which maybe is just a term to mean until they pass from this life, because this world is passing away. The truth is there are no forever homes on earth. As much as individuals like to believe they can choose somewhere to stay indefinitely, we are not in control. It’s a false security.
Natural disasters, job losses, economic crisis, even wars prove we can’t plan for forever living in a world that’s constantly changing. Earthly comforts are fleeting and offer no guarantees of everlasting value. Ancient ruins, along with not-so-ancient ruins, display how things on earth deteriorate no matter how strong and innovative they’re built, or how much we’re assured things will last forever in the world. They just don’t. This world isn’t meant to last forever.
Mistakenly, people spend too much time planning for a “forever home” on earth instead of planning for a “forever home” in the real forever.
How to Plan Your True “Forever Home”
It’s easy to invest so much time, money, and effort into attaining the dream or forever home on earth. But everything on earth is temporal. Although it’s enjoyable on earth, it doesn’t have lasting value in eternity. As Isaiah 51:6 explains, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But My salvation will last forever, My righteousness will never fail.”
God has created us to live eternally, whether in heaven or in hell, so we aren’t designed to live on this earth forever. Yet, many of us spend so much time, energy, effort, and resources, to achieve a certain type of lifestyle. Ecclesiastes 3:11 reminds us, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
God Gives Us Our Value
Still, so many of us work around the clock, missing opportunities to spend time with those we love, with those God loves, and God Himself to focus on gaining more. We choose gathering up of wealth and possessions over storing-up treasures in heaven. Some of us work to become known, renown, and famous, in order to gain the approval of others, and recognition, and to feel worthy and valuable in the world.
But God already has given us the highest value possible in this life and the life to come. Hebrews 2:7, 8 describes, “You made them a little lower than the angels; You crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet. In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.”
The only one and true living God gave Himself to save us, giving us the highest value available to humankind. No matter what we gather or attain in reputation, none can outweigh the value God has already given us in this life. 1 John 5:11 reminds us, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.”
Jesus tells us in Luke 12:6,7, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Intersecting Faith and Life:
Where are you spending all your time, effort, and resources? Are you asking God where to invest, or are you following the world’s leading? Ask God to help keep your eyes fixed on the eternal prize that lies ahead with Him (Hebrews 12:2).
Further Reading:
The Promise of an Eternal Home
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Romonolo Tavani
Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.
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