Well, when the time comes that He wants to call me home, I’m willin’ to go. I leave things to Him and don’t let worry mess with my sleep.”
–Elmer Kelton (The Way of the Coyote)
“For where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers] will be also.”
–Matthew 6:21 (AMP)
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I wonder, how much time do we spend thinking of heaven? If that’s where we are headed, don’t you wonder what it will be like? Yes, there are a few songs out there about heaven, not as many as in years gone past. Is it that we are too busy to contemplate life with the Lord? A.W. Tozer said, “…the devil sees to it that we seldom get alone with time to think and meditate on the reality of the other world.”
Of course many of the things we imagine are just that, imaginations. There is actually very little to be said concerning it. We have the size of the New Jerusalem, a description of the walls and the gates, but little of heaven itself. It is not a place where we go pick up body parts, for we will have a new body. It is not a place where we’ll sit on a cloud plucking at a harp, for man was made to work. We will not turn into angels! We will have communication with them; we will talk with the men of renown: Abraham, Moses, David and many others. We will see loved ones who have gone before us in the Lord. WOW! It’s going to be amazing!
Then why do we hunger and thirst so much for the things of this world? “Of all the calamities that have been visited upon the world, the surrender of the human spirit to this present world and its ways is the worst, without any doubt.” (Tozer) Ponder that for a few seconds. I’m redoing a study of Judges, and their biggest problem was that of compromise; they became like the people they were to drive out. They did what they thought was right, instead of following God’s ways.
There is a much ado today about racism and slavery. But there is more slavery today than in all of history with human trafficking being the largest illegal market in the world. However, there is even greater bondage, and I dare say that most of the world, and even Christians get caught up in it. There is a tyranny greater than we can imagine. “The tyranny of things, of material things, temporal things, things which are and then cease to be–this has become a tyranny.” (Tozer)
Do we like it here so much that we don’t think of our real home? The holidays, as wonderful as they are, can become a nightmare. The message of this time of year is to be thankful, to think of how much God loved us by sending His Son to earth for our redemption. Take some time before this year is out to think of life in heaven, our true home.