This is Not Our True Home

By Matty Alexander

This mortal world is not our true home. It is not the natural habitat of those who follow the path of Jesus Christ. This ‘earthly tent’ that serves as our temporary domicile is not meant to be eternal. Our home, our true home, is in the next world–in paradise. The afflictions and terrors of this mortal plane are temporary, confined to this present world. This fallen world is a temporary stop on our paths to the paradise to come.

As we face trials and tribulations each day, we must look for the bigger picture of Christ’s glory. The glory of Christ’s victory is most profoundly accepted through the shedding of the mortal realm in favor of the ethereal majesty of the eternal realm. Though we face the rod and wrath of this stop along the way, there is life beyond mortal death. This ‘earthly tent’ pales in comparison to the LORD’s home that he has prepared for us to dwell in for all of eternity.

When Archbishop Laud was marched to the gallows at Tower Hill in London after being sentenced to death for his faithfulness to Christ by his Puritan opponents in Parliament, he did not wallow or whine in terror at the prospects of his situation. His impending martyrdom created a sense of resolute conviction in the glory of Christ Jesus. Archbishop Laud accepted and fully understood that this world, a world that beat and condemned him for following Christ, was not his home. At the scaffold, as the executioner’s axe loomed, Laud said, “I acknowledge it in all humility… a most grievous sinner in many ways, by thought, word and deed, and therefore I cannot doubt but that God hath mercy in store for me a poor penitent, as well as for other sinners..” At the conclusion of his sermon upon the scaffold, he spake these words, “LORD receive my soul.” These were his final words before leaving this ‘earthly tent’ behind for the glory of God’s eternal home.