“We should live more simply and give more generously because Heaven is our home. The single greatest deterrent to giving and to living more simply is the illusion that this world is our home.
Suppose your home were in France and you were visiting the United States for eighty days, living in a hotel. Furthermore, suppose there’s a rule that says you can’t take anything back to France on your flight home, nor can you ship anything or carry back money with you. But while you’re in America, you can earn money and send deposits to your bank in France.
Question: Would you fill your hotel room with expensive furnishings and extravagant wall hangings? Of course not. Why? Because your time in America is so short, and you know you can’t take it with you. It’s just a hotel room! If you’re wise, you’ll send your treasures home, knowing they’ll be waiting for you when you arrive.
We’re here on earth on a short-term visa. It’s about to expire! Don’t spend too much time and money and energy on your hotel room when instead you can send it on ahead.”
Randy Alcorn in “Six Reasons to Live More Simply—and Give More Generously” blog post on September 29, 2014.
I am sitting in a hotel room this morning, so this post is fitting!
So why do we pour the resources God has given us into temporary dwellings? The world wants us to think we are home when we are not, at least not yet. When people look at our lives, let’s model for them what it means to live out the reality that heaven, not earth, is our home.