Do you live as if heaven is real?
The Holy Spirit has guaranteed you an inheritance, which includes your place in heaven. What a huge blessing this is! The most wonderful and spectacular destination any human can have has been secured for you by God’s Holy Spirit.
If you were going to take the vacation of a life time would you be silent about your upcoming journey? Would you plan for it? Would you think of all the great things you would do on this once-in-a- lifetime trip? I think the answer to these questions is obvious.
Now let’s compare this grand earthly journey with the one you will take one day. Actually, the two are not worth comparing as the trip that says destination: Heaven – is the grandest journey of all.
I believe that one reason we lose credibility with our children and those to whom we attempt to tell about Christ is that our view of heaven is much more like Kenny Chesney’s than the Holy Spirit’s. You may remember the hit song he had a few years ago about heaven. The ending refrain went like this:
Everybody wanna go to heaven
It beats the other place there ain’t no doubt
Everybody wanna go to heaven
But nobody wanna go now
For too many Christians Kenny’s version is more appealing than reality – we like the idea of heaven, we just don’t want to miss out on anything here on planet earth.
Do you live for heaven, God’s heaven? Or is the world too attractive? As long as God leaves you here on the planet, you should enjoy the beauty of creation and relationships as his precious gifts. These things, however, should not turn us from the wonder that is pledged by God’s Spirit.
You children need to see that you think is heaven is real. They need to see that sacrifice for the glory of God is a good thing. They need to see that there is more to life than what is on this planet. Enjoy the time that God gives you here. But live for the ultimate reality of heaven. It matters to your children. It matters for your credibility as a child of God.