Text: Hebrews 11

Key verse: “Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.”

One reason that makes the Bible my manual for life is that it tells you what to do and also shows you how to do it. The Bible provides us with a beautiful array of examples to follow. Today, Abraham models for us a life that is future-focused.

Abraham had a great encounter following God, he secured covenants with God that had a generational impact. He experienced divine interventions during the famine, supernatural financial increase and he brought forth seed in old age when the human clock of productivity had stopped ticking for him and Sarah.

He had encountered enough breakthroughs on earth to keep dwelling on the past. His success in following God was enough reason to keep telling anyone who had ears to listen to his story. But, he did none of those, rather his heart, as well as his eyes, were locked into the future, the eternal future.

From my studies, l have learned that you can live in the past, be a presence focused person, or choose to be future-focused, each one has its implications.

Most people who have faced trauma are Past-Focused, the incident in the past that wounded their hearts never seems to let go of them. They see life and people through the coloured lenses of their experiences.

The second group of people are those who are consumed with the present, they are pleasure-seeking, self-gratifying and can only take action if the immediate consequences are for their benefit. You hear them ask “What is in it for me?” There are like Esau, who willingly gave away his birthright just to have a bowl of food.

We meet the last class of people, where Abraham belongs, people who are focused on things of eternal consequences, they are not “earthly useless” as we sometimes hear, but rather, they are driven by the eternal consequences of every action they take.

Abraham spent time passing on his faith and revelations to his son and household so that Isaac went on to build Altars like his father. The next generation learned to call on the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob even to forty-two generations up to Jesus.

“All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.” Matthew 1:17

He lived to prioritize eternal riches above the material ones he had already seen. Jesus said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eyes of the needle than for a rich man to make it to heaven, Abraham was one of the few who made it, because his eyes were set on heaven and his focus was not on the past nor the present reality, but on the future, he had not seen.

Living by faith is to live future-focused. Abraham seemed to have insight into who God was and what he was capable of doing, this gave him the foresight to see with the eyes of faith the nature of homes found in heaven.

Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

Christians are not thoughtless or clueless people who follow a blind faith based on fables. We are believers in a living God who has revealed himself to mankind in so many ways that he is known. His character and ability, his values, and his attributes are made manifest over the years. Be an informed believer, know your God well, be rooted and grounded in the knowledge of his ways, then you will have enough insight to live a future-focused life. Apostle Paul left us with a key that guaranteed his success at living a future-focused life.

“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:13-14.

Stop living in the past, good or bad, use today to prepare for the future especially the eternal future, for it doesn\’t end here there is an everlasting future waiting for everyone.

Blessings to you!

Roses & Thorns