Which City Are We Seeking?

     Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
     So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
     For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
                                Hebrews 13:12-14 NASB

     I want to ask professing Christians some very serious questions. Which city are you living for? Which kingdom are you seeking? Is it the heavenly kingdom of Christ, or the world in which we live?
     The Bible speaks of Christians as those who are seeking a heavenly kingdom. Look at the above text. It says to us that just as Christ went outside the gate to die for our sanctification, so we to are to bear His reproach outside the camp.
     Outside the camp was the place where refuse was discarded and burned (Hebrews 13:11). This is not a pleasant place to think of going out to, but being a true follower of Christ in this world is not always an easy pleasant thing to be either. The world will despise those who have renounced it and its ways. History has shown us how this world has treated godly men and women down through the ages. It has scorned them, mocked them, imprisoned them, and killed them.
     The temptation for many is to please man rather than God. We might claim to be Christians but remain silent, watch what we say, compromise the truth, etc. Jesus said if we are ashamed of Him, He is ashamed of us. It is just that simple (Mark 8:38)! If are trying to please man, then we are not servants of Christ (Galatians 1:10).
     This world is not our home! We must go outside the camp, just like Christ! Be willing to suffer reproach.
       This world is only temporary. It will not last, so why do we spend ourselves in pursuit of all that it can offer us? Someday all that can be shaken will be shaken. Only the Kingdom of God will remain. That is what we stand to inherit as followers of Christ, and not this world (Hebrews 12:26-28). 
     Jesus told us to lay up eternal treasure, to live for eternal things, not temporal material things (Matthew 6:19-21). What we pursue, the things that take up our time, thoughts, money, effort, are what we worship! That is right. Is Jesus Christ enthroned in your heart? Are you consumed by Him and His service, or are you consumed by the things of this life? Are you spending your days living for temporal things? Even things innocent and even needful can become snares and idols to us!
     Look at men like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Bible tells us that they did not consider this world their home. They were looking to the city whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10, 13-14). They had come out of this world. They did not look back at what they had left or else they would have returned to it (Hebrews 11:15). Remember Lot's wife looked back as Sodom and Gomorrah were burning up? Where do you suppose her heart was (Genesis 19:24-26)?
     Jesus said that no one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62). What are we looking at, our eternal home with Christ, or our temporal life on this earth?
     These patriarchs of renown did not look back from where they came from, but looked to the heavenly kingdom they would one day possess. They clung to the promise of God by faith while living on this earth, and God was not ashamed to be called their God ( Hebrews 11:16). 
     What about us? Is God unashamed to be called our God, or do we bring Him reproach by our worldly mindedness?  What our we looking forward to, the city whose builder and maker is God, or mere material things that will someday be shaken and destroyed?
     As Christians, we are indeed strangers and pilgrims upon this earth. Let us live like it.