Are you looking for a new devotional book about heaven and eternal life? Try Longing for Home: 52 Devotional Reflections on the Hope of Heaven, by yours truly, Kate Motaung.
This devotional book includes 52 entries that will help readers increase their longing for eternity and live with an eternal perspective.
If you’ve ever felt like this world is not your home and you’ve longed for something more, this book is for you. If you’ve struggled to feel as if you belong here, this book is for you. If you have a hard time with the current circumstances in the world and you’re eager for peace and rest, this book is for you.
Longing for Home encourages readers to consider areas where they may have made this temporary life more important than their eternal life with God, and it calls them to live even now as if heaven is home.
If you’re looking for an uplifting devotional book with weekly entries that will spur your hope for the future, I pray that Longing for Home will be an encouragement to you.
Here’s a brief excerpt so you can get a taste of what to expect:
Moving Day
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
Matthew 24:42, NIV
During the decade my family and I lived in Cape Town, we spent a year living in the furnished home of some missionaries who went on furlough. Our family had the privilege of looking after their dogs and belongings while they were away. Prior to this twelve-month arrangement, we had spent four months in a different rental nearby.
Shortly after we moved in, my husband’s back started to give him problems, so we decided to try a mattress with firmer springs. The day the new mattress was to be delivered, my husband and I hauled the old one out of the master bedroom. Our four-year-old son was lying on the floor playing with Matchbox cars as we passed through the dining room toward the garage. As he saw the mattress floating by, he asked nonchalantly, “Are we moving again today, Mom?”
He wasn’t even fazed. We had moved so many times in his short life, apparently it seemed like a normal and natural thing to do on any given day of the week. In many ways, moving so frequently became a blessing because it helped me realize afresh that this is not our home. Since the roots of our earthly dwellings did not grow deep, it became (somewhat) easier to remember that this life is temporary.
Like my son, we should be daily asking our heavenly Father, “Are we moving today, Dad? Is today the day you’re going to take me home? Is today the day your Son is coming back?”
When my South African husband was in the process of applying for his US citizenship, there were multiple steps in the process, including an in-person interview and a swearing-in ceremony on separate days, both in a city three hours away from where we lived. The problem was, we didn’t know when either of those events would take place. We were told we would receive a letter in the mail notifying us as to when he should show up, but we might only have a week’s notice in advance.
My husband wanted to travel to Cape Town to help his mom at one point during the waiting period, but he decided against scheduling a trip, saying, “What if the letter comes while I’m gone and it says I have to be in Detroit sooner than I would be able to make it back to Michigan?” Because he didn’t know the day or time he would be expected to show up, he had to be ready at all times.
In Matthew 25:1-13, we read the parable of the ten virgins who took lamps to go wait for the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and did not take oil for their lamps; the other five were wise and did take oil along. None of them had any idea how long they would have to wait. When the bridegroom finally arrived—much later than anticipated—the virgins who did not take oil realized they were about to run out. They weren’t ready. They had to leave to buy more oil, and by the time they returned, they had missed their opportunity to meet the bridegroom. Can you imagine anything more tragic?
In a similar way, we don’t know when the Lord will call us into His presence. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42, niv). Will today be the day we get to move to our eternal home? What can we do now to prepare for His coming? May He teach us how to stay ready, covered by the solid and secure promise of His grace.
Question for Reflection:
If Christ returned tomorrow, would you be ready? If not, why not?
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