Faith

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as [in] a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God.”

Hebrews 11:8-16 (KJV)

Sometimes it can be difficult to remember where our destination is. Life can get clouded. Disappointments, struggles, and setbacks come. Things don’t go as planned.

Maybe you didn’t get the promotion you thought you were going to get, or God didn’t answer your prayer in the way you thought he was going to.

Maybe your life didn’t turn out the way you hoped it would.

Perhaps you feel like you’ve missed it. Like you’ve failed and made a wrong turn. You might have regrets. I know I do.

What is easy to forget is that these men of faith, like Abraham, weren’t perfect either. But they knew where they were going.

Their eyes were centered on the reality that there was a heavenly city awaiting them. That this world was not their home.

They didn’t try to make this world their heaven. They longed for heaven itself. They obeyed God, trusting in His love for them, knowing that they wouldn’t miss out on the pleasures of the world if they followed His call.

They knew much better things awaited them, beyond what they could even think or imagine.

When your eyes are fixed on the eternal, your worries about the temporal will fall away.

When you trust in his Love for you, his care and provision for you, your grip will loosen on your efforts to be self-sufficient.

Why do we try so hard to accomplish things? Even in the name of working for God? Do we think He will love us more if we do more? Or are we doing it to make people think more highly of us?

What if none of that matters because the Most Excellent One has already accepted us, and all our works mean nothing anyway? What if there is nothing we can do to make him love us any more or any less? Even our attempts to please him by being more spiritual? Or praying and fasting more? Or ministering more?

Does God need you to do these things? Does the Ruler of the Multiverse need us in order to accomplish his plan?

Or does He have a gentle beckoning to know Him? Where, in loving relationship He gives us the desires of our hearts, and allows us to participate in what He is doing. Not so that we can accumulate for ourselves to prove our worth, but in order to share and taste and know of his heart?

What if the truth is that He desires a loving cooperative relationship, built on the bedrock of his immovable love for you, a fortress of security that ever guards your heart because he cares for you?

What if he simply wants to show us how much he loves us? And all this time we have been trying to prove our worthiness by self-effort?

What if faith is coming into agreement with this truth? Where our eyes are firmly fixed on Heaven, where we know is enthroned a being of such incredible white light of love for you, that when you experience this reality, you have no other response but to follow his call wherever it leads.

Today, dear friends, set your eyes on the Heavenly City.

The King with eyes like flames of fire is ever-gazing upon you, most precious and favored child.

Be at peace.