Don't Get Too Comfortable

By Pastor Dan Hickling

“Joseph lived one hundred and ten years.” Genesis 50:22 (NKJV)

As we come to the end of the Book of Genesis, we also come to the end of Joseph’s remarkable life. We’re told that he lived to be one hundred and ten years old. But before Joseph passes from this life to the inheritance God has prepared for him, we see him pass on some final parting instructions: “And Joseph said to his brethren, ‘I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’ Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, ‘God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here’” (Genesis 50:24-25 NKJV).

With the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob firmly planted in the land of Egypt, Joseph draws attention to the promise that God would eventually lead them out and reestablish them back in the land of Canaan, which He had promised to their forefathers. Joseph was so confident in this that he even gave dying instructions to have his body buried there when the time finally came. In other words, Joseph is telling his people, “Don’t get too comfortable because this isn’t our true home.”

If that doesn’t ring true for the Christian life then nothing else does! One greater than Joseph has also told us not to get too comfortable here on earth, because this isn’t our true home. Like Joseph, Jesus made this crystal clear for His followers, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3 NKJV).

Jesus was consistently pointing His people past the things of earth and towards eternity, because we are in this world as the Israelites were in Egypt; as temporary strangers in a strange land. God uses our lives here on earth, but they aren’t to be invested here. We’re called to have a light touch on earthly things because we understand that this isn’t our true home. We were made for something more, somewhere else—and this fulfillment will only happen once we’re face-to-face with the One who created and calls us.

Be thankful for where God has placed you today, be faithful with every bit of it, but don’t be too comfortable because this isn’t your true home.

DIG: What was Joseph’s dying wish?

DISCOVER: Why was this so significant? What parallel exists between Joseph’s final instructions and the Christian life?

DO: Write down some key takeaways you’ve learned from the Book of Genesis.