Do you own your home, or are you like me—a renter? At one point in time I wanted to own a home, but realized that for me it was best to rent. I have no family nearby to assist with repair work, no carpentry or fix-it skills of my own, and quite honestly, rarely worked in positions that afforded me the options of earning what would be required of me for home ownership…at least not in a safe location!

For others, home ownership is the very wise route to go. Investing in a home can be a great move! For now, however, I choose to be a renter. When my washer broke in Michigan, my landlord had a new one there in less than 24 hours. When my window leaked, a repairman was there that afternoon to fix it. For me, that’s awesome.

But this post is actually not about renting vs. owning, so I’ll get to the point.

As I thought about ending this five-day set of posts about America, all I could think of was the old Gospel song, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue!” It’s awesome to think that we are just “resident foreigners” here (Isaiah 52!). But thinking that way can also bring problems!

My friends M & T own rental property near a large university. A few times now, M has posted pictures on Facebook of how the rental property is literally trashed when the renters leave. It’s sad. Because they have nothing invested in it for the long haul, they don’t care what happens after they are gone. To me, that says a great deal about the character of the renters.

Remember, I speak as a renter, so not ALL of us are like that! Many of us respect the landlord, are thankful that he purchased a home we can live in, and want to use the way we take care of the landlord’s property as a means of demonstrating good deeds as a Christ-follower.

So today I want to encourage any who read this to live like renters—not in the sense of trashing your earthly homes, of course, but in the sense of knowing that our homes on earth are temporary housing. The way we care for them can be a means of respecting our future Landlord, being thankful that He paid the price, and demonstrating good deeds as His followers! There is a far greater home awaiting us in heaven if we have accepted God’s gift of eternal life which was given to us through the death of His Son, Jesus.

America is awesome—there’s no doubt about that! But in the big picture, I’m just a “resident foreigner” here. Though a proud citizen of the United States, my true citizenship is in heaven. I’m just a renter down here!

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 3:20 [NASB]

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Thank you for taking time to read this post. Please feel free to leave a comment!