Daily Devotion

“I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.”

C.S. Lewis · Mere Christianity, Book III, ch. 10 "Hope"

Scripture

Hebrews 11:13-16 These people died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen it afar off, and being glad to meet it, and acknowledging that they were strangers and sojourners on earth. Those who say such things show that they seek a country. If they had remembered the country they had left, they would have had the opportunity to return. But they desire a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Reflection

That lingering sense of dissatisfaction in life is actually a guide home left by God for our souls. We often blame our current setbacks, loneliness, or emptiness on our circumstances, but Hebrews tells us that this feeling of being a "stranger" is proof of our identity. Lewis reminds us neither to despise earthly blessings nor to mistake them for our true country, but to keep the desire for that country alive and make pressing on toward it the main object of life. We don't seek solace for our souls in this world, but rather traverse it driven by our souls. Acknowledging ourselves as sojourners is not pessimism or world-weariness, but a clear-headed realization: since our roots are not in the earth but in the heavens, worldly gains and losses can no longer bind us.