BEYOND – Day 8
We entertain many misunderstandings about Heaven. Some we were taught. Sometimes we allow our thoughts about eternal life to deteriorate into syrupy, sentimentality or unrealistic pictures of angels wings and quiet music.
Some of us allow our thoughts of Heaven to focus on a place “out there” that has no real line of connection to our reality today. Satan delights to deceive us into thinking incorrectly about this promised place that awaits God’s children. I think that’s because he knows if we get it right it will radically change us and how we see the world.
So it serves his purpose to keep us confused if he can: thinking Heaven is just a state of mind; that Heaven is floating around all day on a white cloud… forever; that in the end everybody goes there.
Or that Heaven is just a continuation of earth’s comforts and joy… to the Nth degree. We cannot imagine.
I still remember the impact of seeing the ocean for the first time. I grew up with ponds and rivers and lakes and streams. And as a child I had in my child’s mind come to conclude that crossing the Ohio River was the largest a body of water got.
And then I went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and for the first time saw waves taller than me and an expanse of water so vast I could not see the end. My perspective changed that day. Playing in the stream near my house when I returned home was no longer as fun as it used to be.
So will be our first glimpse of glory. The pleasures of earth will pale in comparison to the glory that will be revealed. Comparing earth to Heaven is much more complicated than comparing an ocean of water to a runoff stream in a street-side culvert, but it begins to take us toward the reality that “eye has not seen; ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
FOR MEMORIZATION: “But our citizenship is in heaven….” Philippians 3:20
FOR REFLECTION: If everyone is not going to Heaven how can I be sure I am going?
Have you ever personally responded to God’s call to salvation? If not, would you today say, “Lord I repent of my sin and turn to Jesus alone for salvation. Come into my life. I receive you and bow to you as my Savior and my Lord. I will follow you and obey you. Thank you for taking my place at the cross. Thank you for making me new today and for the gift of eternal life. Through Jesus my Lord I pray.” Now tell someone you prayed that prayer. Do it today! Heaven awaits.