“Imagine a traveler on a long journey. He stops at a roadside inn to rest. They give him water, make up a bed for him, give him shelter for the night. Is it reasonable for him to make use of all this?
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“But would it be reasonable for him to nail the bed to the floor and declare the inn his permanent estate?
“Because we confuse temporary shelter with our true Homeland. As long as the traveler remembers where he is going, the collapse of a roadside inn is a tragedy – but not the end. He will find another place to spend the night. But the man who has nailed his bed to the floor and convinced himself there is nowhere else to go really does lose everything when the roof comes crashing down.
“Of course not. It is a roadside inn. The sin is not sleeping in the bed. The sin is nailing it down and refusing to continue the journey.
“The peace of all things lies in order. And order is the arrangement that assigns everything its proper place. A traveler must also respect the order of the house where he is staying: he does not break the furniture, insult his hosts or refuse to pay for his lodging. But he remembers that this house is only one stop along the way.
“Twice over. The person who remembers his true Homeland takes better care of the roadside inn than the one who mistakes it for his final home. Longing for the Heavenly City neither abolishes nor destroys anything on which earthly life depends. We obey human ordinances in pursuit of peace on earth – provided they do not conflict with our faith.