Hebrews 11:13-16 (NIVUK)
13 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, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 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.
It is not wrong to love this world, in fact, it is right to – think of Jesus’ clear love of those he met and the world around him, and what John says about God, ‘God so loved the world’ (John 3:16) – but this doesn’t mean that we are satisfied by it. Faith gives us a glimpse of the world as it will be, revealing the failings and frailties of it as it is now. This holy dissatisfaction drives us onwards to strive to reach that better country, rather than accepting it as it is now.
Spirit, help me to walk that tightrope between loving this world and being dissatisfied with it. Help me to seek to celebrate it and seek for its improvement.
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