"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:13-16

In last week's devotion we considered that Abraham believed God's promises long before those promises were fulfilled. Faith comes before the keeping of the promise.

Part two of the Abraham exhibit in our walk through the Bible's Hall of Faith shows us that the way Abraham walked with God by faith is the way all believers walk. Abraham lived over 2,000 years before the time of Christ. God had given the first promise of a Savior at least 2,000 years before that. So from the fall into sin until the birth of Jesus, at least 4,000 years (likely more) went by. In all that time, how many people looked forward to the coming of the Savior but died without ever seeing him? We can't begin to count the number, but they all had something in common.

The verses for today remind us that there are two kinds of people in the world. There are those who see this world as their home and there are those who view this world as a temporary stop on their way home. Some think of the world as their native land while others view the world as a foreign country which they are just visiting.

Which are you? Is life all about making a buck, moving up the employment ladder, saving up for that exotic vacation or building a bigger house? For people who are deeply grounded in this world, life is all about those things. And sooner or later those things disappear. The money gets spent, the vacation ends, the job goes away and the house gets sold. While those things can be gifts from God, they are not the building blocks of a believer's life. They are just perks of living in this temporary world.

The believer has an entirely different view of life in this world, which follows the example of Abraham. Abraham didn't mind living in tents and wandering from place to place while he waited for God to fulfill his promises. Because Abraham had something greater to look forward to, he was content to live a nomadic life and think of himself as a stranger to this world.

By the grace of God you and I believe and live like Abraham. Because God has worked faith in our hearts, we look to his Son Jesus Christ as the one who is taking us to a better country. We walk the path to heaven by faith in him who is the living way to heaven. Jesus laid that path when he laid down his innocent life on the cross and thereby paid our entry fee into heaven. Through Christ we are on the road to a better country--a heavenly country which, unlike our earthly home, will last forever.

In addition, God is not ashamed to be called our God. The LORD Almighty who made and kept his promises to Abraham and called Abraham his child is happy to call us his children too. The God who guided Abraham's footsteps during his wandering in the Promised Land and helped Abraham in every trouble before calling him to heaven is the God who does the same for us. He is always working to bring us to the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem that he has prepared for us. This is what we have in common with the believers in the Hall of Faith and with all believers of all time. We look forward to our heavenly country as they did and we look to God's promise and plan--fulfilled at Calvary's cross and empty tomb--to bring us there.