The best home of all is our home in heaven.

天家就是我们最棒的家。

They were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Hebrews 11:16

他们却羡慕一个更美的家乡，就是在天上的。-希伯来书11章16节

My wife walked into the room and found me poking my head inside the cabinet of our grandfather clock. “What are you doing?” she asked. “This clock smells just like my parents’ house,” I answered sheepishly, closing the door. “I guess you could say I was going home for a moment.”

有一天，妻子走进房间，见我正埋头在家中的落地型老爷钟里。“你在做什么？”她问道。“这座钟有我爸妈以前住的房子的味道。”我红着脸回答，随手关上了老爷钟的门。我对妻子说：“妳就当作我刚回家一趟吧！”

The sense of smell can evoke powerful memories. We had moved the clock across the country from my parents’ house nearly twenty years ago, but the aroma of the wood inside it still takes me back to my childhood.

气味能勾起无穷的回忆。这座钟是大约20年前千里迢迢从我父母的老家搬过来的，但老爷钟里木头的味道仍能让我回忆童年时光。

The writer of Hebrews tells of others who were longing for home in a different way. Instead of looking backward, they were looking ahead with faith to their home in heaven. Even though what they hoped for seemed a long way off, they trusted that God was faithful to keep His promise to bring them to a place where they would be with Him forever (Heb. 11:13–16).

希伯来书的作者谈到另一些人，他们渴慕家乡的方式却截然不同。他们并不是向后看，而是带着信心向前远望他们在天上的家乡。虽然他们所渴慕的家乡看来仍遥不可及，但他们相信上帝是信实的，必会持守祂的约，带他们到天家永远与祂同住（希伯来书11章13-16节） 。

Philippians 3:20 reminds us that “our citizenship is in heaven,” and we are to “eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Looking forward to seeing Jesus and receiving everything God has promised us through Him help us keep our focus. The past or the present can never compare with what’s ahead of us!

腓立比书3章20节提醒我们，我们是“天上的国民，并且等候救主，就是主耶稣基督从天上降临”。期盼能与耶稣相见、并藉由祂而领受上帝所应许的一切，能使我们的人生有正确的焦点。因为若与那摆在我们前面的相比，无论是过去或现在有多美好，都无可比拟！

Jesus, thank You that You are faithful to 

keep Your promises.

Please help me to always look forward to You.

耶稣，感谢祢信实地持守祢的应许。
求祢帮助我，时时地渴慕祢。

Hebrews 11:8-16New International Version (NIV)

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised landlike a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[a] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

希伯来书 11:8-16Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified) (CUVMPS)

盼望有根基之城

8 亚伯拉罕因着信，蒙召的时候就遵命出去，往将来要得为业的地方去；出去的时候，还不知往哪里去。 9 他因着信，就在所应许之地作客，好像在异地居住帐篷，与那同蒙一个应许的以撒、雅各一样。 10 因为他等候那座有根基的城，就是神所经营、所建造的。 11 因着信，连撒拉自己，虽然过了生育的岁数，还能怀孕，因她以为那应许她的是可信的。 12 所以从一个仿佛已死的人就生出子孙，如同天上的星那样众多，海边的沙那样无数。

13 这些人都是存着信心死的，并没有得着所应许的，却从远处望见，且欢喜迎接，又承认自己在世上是客旅，是寄居的。 14 说这样话的人，是表明自己要找一个家乡。 15 他们若想念所离开的家乡，还有可以回去的机会。 16 他们却羡慕一个更美的家乡，就是在天上的。所以神被称为他们的神，并不以为耻，因为他已经给他们预备了一座城。

整理：于姊妹