Living Out of a Suitcase
IllustrationTestimonyAnalogy★★★★WHEN I travel, I stay in a hotel, but I never unpack my suitcase. I operate out of my suitcase. I never open up the drawers and put my clothes away. Why?
Because I’m not coming to live there. I’m visiting the hotel for a day or two. I don’t unpack all my stuff because that room is not my home. Now, I enjoy the hotel room but I just don’t get too comfortable.
Whenever I travel out of the country, I don’t learn the language of the country. I don’t bother to spend mounds of time mastering the language of the culture because I’m not staying there. I may be there for a day or two, or maybe even a week if the country is far enough, but I don’t invest much time and energy in language study because I know I’m not going to stay.
I am only there for a temporary period of time to do my business. Then I’m going to catch a plane and leave.
I am always conscious of my home. I’m always conscious of Dallas, Texas, because that is where my home is. The problem with believers is that we make this world home. We unpack our bags and we become absorbed in the culture around us, forgetting that this world is not our home.
The point
A traveler never unpacks at a hotel because he's not making it home; similarly, believers shouldn't unpack materially or culturally here, remembering heaven is home. An instructive contrast.