Something Out Of Nothing

"Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."
~Heb 11:16b~


Faith.
Such a difficult concept to grasp.


I've been struggling with the whole "this world is not my home, I'm just a passing through" concept.
It's difficult - maintaining a passion for life whilst knowing that as a Christian, as a child of God, my real home is the city of God.... I'm homesick for heaven alright!


I've blogged about feeling like an alien in Thailand and even growing up in Singapore... and it was a result of an ongoing undercurrent of feeling sad that I know I cannot be truly happy here on earth - that happiness is to be hoped for and to look forward to a better life.
I feel like it's a sort of justification when I'm miserable, and a reason to expect disappointment in this life - like the disappointments I have been dealt with in the last few years (especially)...



But at NewSong Bible study today, in the middle of Hebrews 11, swimming around in a sea of ideas and concepts and questions and confusion... arose this thought:

"If I feel like an alien on earth, that I don't belong, that I'm missing out...
it's not something to moan and groan about.
Instead, it is something that I should rejoice about
because feeling alien means that I truly belong to God and God's city.
That I long to be in God's presence... that I am not satisfied with whatever this life has to offer!
And even more powerful - dwelling on that relationship with God - the impact on my life that I belong to Him.

WOW.

I belong to Him.
I long for Him.
I want to know his presence.
I am homesick for His Home!"

Hebrews 11:1 --> "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
God tells us that faith is knowing that we can expect God to make something out of nothing.
And He proves it by showing us a very big Something that he has already made out of nothing (in verse 3):
"By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible."
First of all, we see God demonstrating his power - by his command, the UNIVERSE was made.
(Feeling small yet??)
Not only that, but he made the entire known universe out of NOTHING.

So... if faith is believing in God's ability to make something out of nothing... then there sure is going to be a BIG something at the end of this life on earth. ;)




Thanks be to Him!