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A House Not Made With Hands
A House Not Made With Hands
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1).
As a faithful child of God, we have the great blessing of a hope that reaches far beyond this old earthly life with all of its strife, troubles and groanings. As I think about this, the words of Hebrews 11 begin to echo within my heart. Beginning in verse 8 we read about the faith of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob. verse 13-16 is a beautiful passage, “All these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those that say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
We too are strangers and exiles on this earth. Desiring and seeking that better country, the heavenly one should fill our hearts, guiding us each day on our journey to that better country (2 Cor. 5:6-9, Phil. 3:20, 1 Peter 1:3-4, Phil. 3:13-14). I pray that when you study this passage from Hebrews you take careful note of how it begins, “All these died in faith”, because dying in faith is what really matters. We stand in awe of those great heroes of faith found in the 11th chapter of Hebrews. Their strong faith in God is marked with lives totally committed to God, lives that were disciplined by God and lives that were distinctive for God.
It is this writer’s firm conviction that our lives must be marked in the same way if we are to have a strong faith that will withstand all the obstacles and struggles of this earthly life (John 2:5; Mark 12:30; Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:9; Heb. 12:1-14; 1 Thess. 5:14-23; 2 Cor. 8:5). All of the labor, struggles and toils of this life will be made so much easier to withstand when our heart is filled with a longing to be clothed with our house from heaven. For the faithful child of God, one day this natural, perishable body will be replaced with a spiritual one that will be imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:50-54, 1 John 3:1-3). With a strong faith in God, each step we take will simply carry us a little closer to our eternal home (John 14:1-3).
Today our eternal soul dwells in a human frame that is weak, frail and fragile. There is a day coming in which our physical body will be finished. We will lay it aside and if we have obeyed and faithfully served the Lord, we will move out to that home prepared for us. There will be no anxiety or fear of our earthly tent being torn down when within our heart there is a confidence that allows us to say, I know I have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Charles Hicks, Gallatin Tennessee
