Devotion - Tuesday, January 30

I wrote yesterday about faith, and I want to add more today.  I continue to read from Hebrews 11.13-16.

Let me quote a few verses:  

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, 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; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Two gifts were presented in these verses:

First, the talk of persons of faith "seeking."  Too often we associate faith with certainty, as if it brings the conclusion of our quest.  This has not been my experience, nor is it the sort of talk I hear from those who have been my inspiration in the faith.  Seeking is the very essence of what it means to be a person of faith.  We are on a constant search for that "better country" in which the will and word of God is complete.

Second, there is the assurance that God has "prepared a city."  There are places, actual physical places, where we can be and know that God is there.  There are opportunities to experience being safe and secure and relaxed.  We often call such places congregations; they might also be small group gatherings or supper clubs.  My seeking does not mean I have no fellow searchers.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.  It is the promise that I will not seek in vain and that I do not have to seek alone.