Sojourners

“We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace “

1 Chronicles 29:15

All of God’s people, whether ancient Israelites or latter-day Christians, need to recognize that we are mere “foreigners and nomads here on earth”

Hebrews 11:13All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.

This world is not our home, as the old gospel song puts it, and we must not let our roots get down too deep in this materialistic world.

The words of our text are in David’s last recorded prayer before his death. He was a great king and very wealthy in material things, but he still recognized that his real home was not in the earthly Jerusalem, but in heaven.

So should we. The apostle Paul wrote,

Philippians 3:20But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.. We are merely serving in this world as “ambassadors for Christ,”

2 Corinthians 5:20So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!"

Why should we spend so much time and money in beautifying a home on earth when Christ has gone to prepare a mansion for us in heaven?

John 14:2There is more than enough room in my Father's home.[a] If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

Remember Abraham, who by faith “sojourned . . . in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob”

Hebrews 11:9And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith-for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.

Hebrews 11:16But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them..

Also remember Paul who had “no certain home“

1 Corinthians 4:11Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don't have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. not to mention the Lord Jesus Himself who had “not where to lay his head”

Matthew 8:20 But Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man[a] has no place even to lay his head."

1 Peter 1:17And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as "foreigners in the land."

–that is, reverential fear of God (never fear of man), as good citizens of our heavenly country.