Heaven as our Home

C.S. Lewis said,” I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.”

 A friend is there, he has finished the coarse.

When I see ocean fish in an aquarium I know something is wrong- they don’t belong there. – They were made for the great green ocean.  I wonder if their instincts tell them like ours do – something better!

Bonhoeffer: “Our greatest affliction in not anxiety, or even guilt, but rather our homesickness- a nostalgia or ongoing yearning to be at home with God.”

Christian slaves sang ‘goi'n home to live with God and that a chariot is comin’ to carry me home.

We’ve always spoken it and so has Jesus- John 14-coming to take us with him to our mansion/home in heaven.

He is the Way the Truth and the Life.

Knowing we can come home is what keeps us going- all the good and none of the bad of here. My friend knew it and Christ and He are there.

We may grieve today, but don’t be disappointed if someone had to go home early- that’s where the party is. This place is eating drinking and being merry while uncorrupted with sin.

Eternal life doesn’t begin when we die- It began when we accepted Jesus’ gift of grace.

Heaven is our source of optimism. Our foundation in Christ and his redemptive work- our pain and suffering relieved in the next UNSEEN World.  Knowing that our suffering will be relieved doesn’t make it easy, but it makes it bearable.  Meditating on heaven is a great pain reliever.

Rejoice your names are written in heaven (LK 10:20)

Anticipating the GREAT ADVENTURE-

Joni Eareckson Tada- “ Can you hear the sighing in the wind? Can you feel the heavy silence in the mountains? Can you sense the restless longing in the sea? Can you see it in the woeful eyes of an animal? Something’s coming…something better.

“Farwell to Shadowlands” Lewis said.  “I in my flesh I will see God…I and not another (Job 19:26-27).

Peter Pan said, “To die will be an awfully big adventure.” Dying is merely the doorway to eternal life- just the beginning- death is the final pain and the last enemy. (Death- the last enemy to be destroyed and He/ Jesus did it on the cross. Through Christ and His resurrection (Easter) all in Him will be made alive (1 Cor. 15:22).

The fact that heaven will be wonderful should not tempt us to take shortcuts to get there. Your life has a purpose and this is exactly where God wants you now- while preparing you for another world. Through our pain and grief today for the loss of a friend He’s expanding our capacity for eternal JOY. Don’t listen to the liar; finish your God-given course on earth- finish strong by his grace.

The goal and end of a person’s calling does not terminate in this life, but makes sense only in the light of the life to come…the world to come is the one we are made for.

Christ-centered righteous living is how to get a head start for heaven. He gives us all we need to do it (Paraphrase of 1Pe 1:3-4).

To be heaven –oriented is to be goal oriented- “But one thing I do, forgetting the past and striving toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:13-14).

Let’s start embarking on the ultimate adventure by knowing Jesus and living in his Holy Spirit power and word.

And right when we think it doesn’t get any better than this, it will.