ABOUT

Earthly Tents or Heavenly Homes started out as a random journal entry in a new full-sized hard cover notebook. I was simply playing around with words, something along the lines of “A new chapter starts a new year, starts a new day, starts a new you.” Sometime shortly later I was in a different notebook writing and write down the following scripture verses from the Bible,

“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭10‬)

Then it dawned on me in that moment that this would make a fantastic foundation for a great book, which is exactly the book you are reading about here. The following is the introduction to my book Earthly Tents or Heavenly Homes.

INTRODUCTION

A new chapter starts a new year, starts a new day, starts a new you. Deep down, we all want to be better. The desire to grow into an improved version of ourselves—a version more devoted to God—is constantly stirring within us. Wanting to improve is natural, but desiring change simply because God desires it for us rarely enters most minds. We are held back by the self-centered, us-first mindset we are born with: our inherent sinful nature.

However, when we are born again, we are brought in close to the Creator. We are brought in so close to the heart of God that we should want nothing more than the change that God wants and desires for us. Along the way to this change, we will grow thirsty and have a desire to drink water, but how many of us desire the Living Water that God is offering to us once we deny ourselves? (John 7:37-38, Mark 8:34-38) Or are we simply focusing on the physical water that the world offers our bodies, which in return only brings us back to being thirsty time and time again? The water that I speak of here is not physical but the Spiritual Water that Jesus Himself spoke about on several occasions.

To change is to accept God’s good work in us and to openly receive the free gift of salvation He has for us (John 3:16, 16:4). It is not an easy task or mission of little weight to change and follow God wholeheartedly; it is leaps and bounds beyond that of the Amazing Race. It is the most difficult thing any person could ever set out to do. Nothing compares to a life lived with God, walking beside Him, and standing side by side with our Creator. Know that He loves each and every one of us with the same unconditional love.

I love the following illustration of how we fit into the middle of everything that God has created: We exist in the Middle! We live at the epicenter of everything God is and has created. This is quite amazing! Look at the universe and how infinitely large it is. Now, look at us and all that we are made up of, and how infinitely small everything becomes. We exist at the center of it all! We are neither infinitely large nor small, and at the same time we exist at the heart of who God is. It is as though God created us as a bridge standing at the very center of the universe. As Scripture reveals, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26–27).

Denying ourselves the things we want is no small or easy feat. We are born selfish, carrying an us-first mindset from the start. But when God takes hold of us, and we reach back to take hold of Him, surrendering our desires and turning from this world becomes easier. It is certainly not easy, but it is easier.

We still live in this world, and Satan will continue to attack us at every opportunity. His sole desire is to lead us to deny God. Yet we do not live for the world; we live for the God who so graciously and mercifully created us. God desires that we surrender all of who we are to Him—He wants us wholeheartedly, but so does the world. The closer we grow to God the Father, the harder Satan will fight to separate us from Him. Do not be discouraged by this.

We must choose to pursue God every day. We must lay down our life daily for the sake of the Cross, the Bible, and for the lost souls near and far. I wrote in one of the later chapters of this book, “God does not require perfection; rather, worship demands complete surrender.” As is the case here, when we keep our focus on God, our life should reflect that. God will not become upset or disappointed if we slip and fall; rather, He knows that our imperfections will cause this to happen. He simply asks us to keep our heart’s focus on Him regardless of the situation that we find ourselves in, and that we keep reaching out to Him. We must deny the urge to run away from God as Jonah did.

God’s heart must be filled with boundless passion to create beings like us—made in His image, yet gifted with the freedom to either love Him or reject Him. His heart burns for us, and His intentions are solely for our good: to prosper us, not to hold us back or tear us down (Jeremiah 29:11–14; Isaiah 61:1–4). Above all, He longs for an intimate relationship with us.

Because we are born into a fallen world, we must cultivate a desire for the changes that bring us closer to His heart each day. We must change! We must long to change.

To experience true transformation, we must cultivate four essential desires:

To Deny the World

To Deny Ourselves

To Desire God Above All Else

To Lay Down Our Lives and Become Children of God

Throughout this book, we will explore each of these four foundational pillars, diving into the practical and spiritual choices that shape our walk with God.