My Encouragement if You’re Longing for a Better Country
We all walk through pain at one time or another and we long for a better country than what these troubles declare to be true.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself,
that where I am you may be also.”
John 14:3 ESV
I share a home with three beautiful women of God and I love it. It’s an older house, but I think that adds character. I love the front-facing windows that bathe our living room in sunlight. The back porch is draped with lights and this summer I spent many evenings with friends discussing theology.
My mom has always had a lovely home and I have adopted her cleaning and hosting practices into my home, now that I’m an adult. A physical home has always played a central role in my plans and there is something about my home now that deeply satisfies my soul.
A Hard Life
As charming as you make your earthly home, it doesn’t change that life is hard. Very hard.
This short life of mine has been marked with its fair share of hurt and struggle and I often find myself believing that for anything good to happen there must be pain. I think sometimes this theology is true, but ultimately it does not take into consideration how I should walk as a believer.
I, for one, long for Heaven. I cannot fathom what it will be like to walk without sorrow. Until we reach Heaven, we have to face the reality that no matter what, we will carry the wounds of this life with us until death. A heavy reality, but one that makes the thought of Heaven even sweeter.
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4
How beautiful that will be, to be in the presence of our King as He wipes our tears away. I think that is what makes the pain in this world not only possible but worthwhile.
In the Meantime
When Christ left this earth, He conquered death. It holds no power over us. But He knew that this life would be hard and He did not leave us to fend for ourselves. God sent the Holy Spirit to live in us, in John 14:16-17 Christ says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
We are not left to a world of sorrow and pain alone, instead, we have a good Father who comforts us through His Spirit.
A Heavenly Country
In Hebrews 11:13-15, we read of pillars of the Old Testament dying in faith, “not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 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. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”
This world may be full of pain, but it is pain that will only mark this life. You may have to struggle your whole life for good things, you may never even taste good things, and sometimes when you do good you will be punished (1 Peter 2:20). But how sweet it will be to reach Heaven and in the meantime, we have the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
In His Word
Read 1 Peter 2 and study how God would have us interact with others as His holy people
In Your Life
We are called to be set apart. Are you living in a manner that reflects that truth? (1 Peter 2:11-12)
We Recommend
Hope Heals by Katherine and Jay Wolf, learn how God took insurmountable pain and used it for His Glory.
Let’s Connect
Vienna Jacobson is based in Virginia, right outside Washington, D.C., working as the Digital Marketing Associate for The Philos Project, a non-profit focused on Christian engagement in the Near East. In her spare time, Vienna enjoys adventuring in what outdoors Virginia has to offer, discussing politics with friends, and drinking copious amounts of tea and coffee. While the East Coast has been her home for nearly 6 years now, Vienna has every intention of returning to the West to raise a family someday.