Yesterday we talked about how even though expulsion from the Garden without the possibility of return was part of the punishment, God still cared for them (and by extension, us) and went with them East of Eden into exile. For us, it's pretty easy to look back and view exile as merely a consequence to be endured, punishment for deeds done, and we wouldn't be wrong.

However, a Biblical worldview will also prompt us to see exile in a bit of a different light. This passage in Hebrews reframes exile for us from simply part of judgement to a feature of faithful living. The heroes of faith spoken of there didn't see the promises fulfilled in their lifetimes. No, instead they had to learn to live as foreigners, strangers, and temporary residents, tied and anchored not to what they could build and produce, but to what God had promised them.

To desire a "better place" and long for "another city" doesn't deny the goodness and joy to be found here in everyday earthly life, but it does reshape our understanding of it and refuses to allow this earthly existence to be the ultimate thing. Our faith trains us to hold everything in this present world and our lives loosely with open hands while longing for the day when He will set things ultimately right again. Our desire and hope for "home" isn't a sign of weakness, it's a clue that we were made for more; something far more enduring than anything we can find this side of restored eternity.

To openly admit and confess we are strangers here is simultaneously declaring our loyalty to Him and the life we forfeited in the Garden. Our hope in a coming reality isn't a way of escaping the reality of the here and now, but it is a shift in our awareness and orientation. Yes, we live here, but we belong there. A promise of a better country, a new restored home, gives meaning to our obedience, perseverance, and suffering.

Exile teaches us how to see reality, exposing the false comforts of this life and clarifies from whence our true hope arrives.

It's hard not to view this world and the lives we live in it as all there is as we spend our time, energy, and efforts securing a future in the here and now. But that's not the whole of reality. Hebrews reminds us the faithful are only sojourners here, longing for a different country, a city not made with hands. Our identity isn't what we know here, our identity resides in Christ.

What comforts or identities tempt you to settle as if this world were permanent? How does the promise of a better country reshape your priorities?

Father, help me to both live faithfully and responsibly with what you've given me to steward in this life without clinging to it as ultimate reality. Help me to open my hands and hold loosely to the things of this world, even to my family and myself. Train and guard my heart to desire what you have gone to prepare as we long for the day when you will return, bringing the New Heaven and the New Earth to bear forever. Amen.