Immigrant

If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. - Heb 11: 15-16

This brief section near the middle of today's rather long second reading can almost get lost amid the historically-oriented verses around it, but it is largely the point. To the degree we insist on longing for the country from which we have gone out, we will fail to walk in the freedom of the kingdom into which we have been delivered.

On occasion I have a hard time remembering that my citizenship has been transferred and being grateful that it has been. I find myself wishing I was back there, with its slavery to sin masked with a mirage of freedom. In such moments, his approach to life appeals to me briefly. Then I must remind myself of the damage my loved ones and I experienced as a result of living in the country into which I was born. It is better for me to not think of the land from which I have gone out, but when I do I must think of it with gratitude that it is behind me rather than with any sense of longing to return.