May 19, 2019 (Sunday)
The eleventh chapter of the Bible Book of Hebrews is about people who had strong faith: ” ..these great people continued living with faith until they died. They did not get the things God promised his people. But they were happy just to see those promises coming far in the future. They accepted the fact that they were like visitors and strangers here on earth. When people accept something like that, they show they are waiting for a country that will be their own. If they were thinking about the country they had left, they could have gone back. But they were waiting for a better country–a heavenly country. So God is not ashamed to be called their God. And he has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:13-16 ERV).
Albert E. Brumley wrote the song, “This World Is Not My Home.” He wrote 800 gospel songs, one which is “I’ll Fly Away,” which is enjoying a burst of popularity in the churches these days.
Jesus prayed for His followers: “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:14-15 NIV).
“This world is not my home, I’m just a’passin’ through..” certainly catches the spirit and the message of Hebrews 11, which says that great people of faith “accepted the fact that they were like visitors and strangers here on earth.”