“For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city,” Hebrews 11:14-16.

The ‘things’ these people said were: “That they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” verse 13.

1. Those that declare this have their eyes on that which is not of this world. An earthly abode was not what they sought. Their mind and heart was set on an eternal abode.

That is what and who a true Christian is. Tens of thousands of people, who claim to be Christians, never show the slightest interest in an eternal dwelling place.

Not so the Christian. “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven,” 2 Cors 5:1-2. Here is the certainty and the desire of the true child of God. We have been “chosen . . . out of the world,” (John 15:19) by the Lord Jesus.

2. The true child of God has no desire to go back to the old ways! “If they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.” Having been led by the Lord out of the land of Chaldea, Abraham and his descendants had no desire to go back. Jacob only went there at his parents’ direction to seek a wife. He came back to the Promised Land.

There are things which we can only obtain from this world, as Jacob could only find a ‘Rachel’ back in the land from which God led Abraham. Likewise, we live and work in the world but are not of the world. The Saviour said to His Father when praying about us: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world,” John 17:16. He mingled with men but did not share their earthly desires and ways!

3. Because of this disposition of heart within the true Christian, God is not ashamed to be called ‘our’ God! How often Christians become ashamed of God! Like the disciples at the time of the Saviour’s arrest. They put a distance between themselves and the Saviour. “Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest’s palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end,” Matthew 26:58. So do we often to our shame. BUT the Lord is never ashamed of us and owns us as His, even when we are ashamed of ourselves. The Prodigal, when he returned home said: “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” But his father replied: “This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” (Luke 15:21, 24). Is that how the Lord looks on you? Are you a true child of His?