Looking for that City whose Builder and Maker is God
There is a section of scripture in the Bible that speaks of Abraham:
Heb 11:8-10 NAS77
(8) By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.
(9) By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;
(10) for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
I have to say I am looking for that city too. Wandering in this world, I eventually found God in 1974. As a teen, I thought my life was just normal, everyday life on planet Earth. You grow up, find a girl, marry her, get a house with a white picket fence, have kids and raise a family. That was the meaning of life to me. I was very naive. I remember once remarking to my first girlfriend that I didn’t understand why people had such bad problems in life. Life was good. What was there to be worried about? I asked this in kind of a braggadocio manner — I had it all together; why couldn’t everyone else?
Man, was I in for an awakening! One thing I DIDN’T have together was my relationship with God and a clear understanding of the true nature of our world. It is a fallen world with lots of sin and suffering. If it weren’t for the love of God, the world would be a lost cause.
Well, I soon found that the world was NOT like my little warm, soft cocoon. That cocoon burst one day in 1972 when the love of my life told me in the nicest way possible to take a hike. Within 6 months, I found myself without her, without my home (I joined the Air Force), without my family and without hope in my life. How quickly things can change. I was in complete despair in a corn field in central Illinois by myself. It was the lowest time of my life. I was 20 years old.
Though I did not know it at the time, God answered a desperate prayer of mine to help me and help He did. I found Jesus on a hillside east of Auburn, CA in the summer of 1974. The Lord has been good to me but outside of immediate family, the world hasn’t. I am 63 years old now and I am beginning to understand the above scripture more and more. This world does NOT hold the answers about life for us human beings. Life is not about gaining STUFF and STATUS. In the end, you can’t take any of it with you. This world is only the battleground where the war is waged for our souls. True happiness and paradise will only exist on the other side when those of us who have embraced God’s new covenant find ourselves with the Lord forever. We are looking for THAT city that GOD has made. The cities of Earth hold only pain and suffering.
Life here in our world is difficult and painful. If you think the answers to life lie here somewhere outside of God, you are in for a rude awakening. The promise awaiting all is that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, was buried and then resurrected by God so that if we believe, He now carries our sins so we can be with Him for eternity. No, we don’t deserve it. It is a gift of God’s love.
I’m tired of this Godless world. I’m tired of the disappointments. I’m tired of the endless work — as i get older, it seems more and more like mindless busy work that is more of a distraction from life than life itself. Actually it is. After man fell, God found a perfect way to keep us too busy to get into trouble. But it gets real old! I long to rest. I long to be free from disease, cruelty, death, war — you know what I mean.
“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes.”
(Rev 7:16-17 NAS77)