Wisdom's Corner
Are You Looking for the Fatherland?

Have you ever traveled to another city? Did you start missing all the things that were at home? After a very short time did you start wishing you could be back home?

I have traveled to foreign countries and been away from the United States for several weeks at a time. After a short time away, I started missing my country. I wanted to go home to my "fatherland". The country you have citizenship in is usually your homeland or known as your "fatherland".

You have great feelings of joy and happiness about your fatherland. You feel at home there. If ever away from there, you desire to return. Many people all over the world have been forced from their fatherlands. Rulers make them leave their home country. And no matter how long they are away, they want to return someday to their fatherland. No matter how long they live in another country, they still feel that they are strangers. They want to go home to their fatherland.

In the Bible we read of another type of fatherland. Hebrews chapter eleven is about many of the very courageous and faithful people who followed God. This chapter is known as the chapter of faith. Read what helped keep them faithful.

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city" (Hebrews 11:13-16).

The word for country is the word "patris" in the Greek language. It means "fatherland" or "a country of their own". All the faithful who are mentioned in this chapter were looking for Heaven. It is our true fatherland. Our great God and Father is there waiting for us to join Him. But we must be faithful to obey Him if we want to go there and live. We must look toward our fatherland with joy and happiness.

Until next time, keep reading and studying your Bible. Get the wisdom of God so that you will know what to do to get to the true "Fatherland". And if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.

Mark McWhorter

Copyright 1999

Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)