The dedicated saint is looking for a "country," a land where the visions that God has given him will be realized in all their splendor. The more he loves God the more his thoughts are turned heavenward. He sets his heart and mind on things above. He is not living at home in the world anymore.

As was true of Paul, the faithful saint is forgetting the things that are behind. He is pressing forward to the fullness of Christ, to the fullness of eternal life. All that is not an asset to his quest he considers to be of little value.

We do not mean by this he desires to go to Heaven to live forever. Not at all. Rather, he is seeking the things of Heaven. He is looking for the treasures of Heaven to be in him and he in them so he can enter his inheritance in the earth.

God has given us the earth and all the joys of it. This is our inheritance. Our goal is not to escape from the earth but to bring the righteousness, peace, and joy of Heaven, of God, into the earth. Our inheritance is the material realm—a material realm centered on and filled with Christ.

The Lord Jesus did not come to bring the people of earth to Heaven. He came to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth.

The true saint has his hopes and treasures in Heaven. He turns away from the present world. He is looking for a new world in which righteousness abounds.

Whoever does not turn away from the world and make Christ the Center of his life is not worthy of Christ.

And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. (Hebrews 11:15)

Notice that "the just shall live by faith" has to do with whether we press forward or draw back. There is no middle position. "But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."

The issue is one of single-mindedness. A double-minded person can expect to receive nothing from the Lord. If we put our hand to the plow and then look back we are not fit for the Kingdom of God.

"Crossing the Red Sea" in a grand parade, accompanied by stupendous miracles and the Presence of God, marks the beginning of our quest for the land of promise. It is relatively easy to press forward in God under such conditions.

Then begins the long, arduous journey through the desert. How often we are tempted to look back toward "Egypt," even though we were glad enough to leave at the time we made our exodus.

How many lessons God teaches us in the wilderness! Some who start out turn back in their heart. Multitudes grow cold. Many are fearful. Some lose their faith. Not all who leave Egypt enter the land of promise.

The person who will inherit the Kingdom of God is that individual who perseveres to the end of the journey. God does not bring us from Egypt to Canaan in one step. Neither is "grace" a means of jumping from Egypt to the land of milk and honey. Like the Israelites, we are obliged to learn our lessons in the wilderness. We are tested over and over again.

To be continued.