Location, location, location
We are familiar with the idea that location is, if not all-important, at least highly important. Most of us put a lot of thought into where we choose to live, and then put a lot of energy into making our homes look as we want them to. The value of a property is affected dramatically by its location, for good or ill. Where we live, for many of us, is determined by the schools we want our children to be able to go to. Many of us will agonize over where to retire to. It’s all about location.
God is also very interested in location, where we live. Not only did he make every place we could live. He even “determined the times set for [people] and the exact places where they should live” (Acts 17:26, NIV). And God isn’t only interested in where we live in this world. He is even more concerned about where we will spend eternity. Will it be with him in his glorious new creation? Or will it be in hell, separated from him, in eternal regret? God gave his own Son so that, through his death, we might be purified from our sins and fit to live in ‘the Father’s house’.
Sadly, many fail to consider where they will spend eternity, at least until it is too late. Fortunately, we have in both our present sermon series two fine encouragements to live in this world for the world to come – as “strangers in the world” (1 Peter 1:1) and, like Abraham, “longing for a better country – a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16).