Temporary Residents

Last week Rob Hastie quoted from Luther's devotional "By Faith Alone" during the Lord's Supper. It includes a moving analogy of how we are to view our "stuff."

"If you are a sincere believer, you have all of God's treasures and are God's child. The rest of your life on earth is merely a pilgrimage. God allows you to live in this body and walk on this earth so that you can help other people and bring them to heaven. Therefore, we must use all things on earth in no other way than as guests who travel across the country and come to an inn. They spend the night there and take only food and lodging from the innkeeper. They don't claim that the innkeeper's property now belongs to them. This is how we must deal with material possessions—as if they do not belong to us. We should enjoy only as much as is necessary for us to maintain our bodies and use the rest to help our neighbors. Similarly, the Christian life is like being an overnight guest. "For here we do not have an enduring city" (Hebrews 13:14), but we must go to our Father in heaven. This is why Peter says we shouldn't behave wildly but live in fear. "

Luther, Martin, and James C. Galvin. By Faith Alone. Grand Rapids, MI: World Pub., 1998. Print.