Living with an Eternal Perspective as Citizens of Heaven
Do you ever think about Heaven and what it will be like? Have you thought of the pain we will be without? Like no more bee-stings, acne, or back aches. If you’re gluten free, have you thought of all the pasta and bread you’ll get to enjoy there? Maybe you’ve thought of who you’ll be excited to be reunited with? Like a grandparent, a parent, or friend? How about Jesus?
Do we think of or long to be with Jesus in Heaven as much as we should?
If I could answer this question on the behalf of us, I don’t think we do. It is easy to allow our thought life to be more consumed with the temporary things of today’s world.
Often times even Christians, who believe in Heaven, don’t always long to spend time with Jesus in the here and now (which is what we are going do a whole lot of in Heaven) and become distracted as they organize their life around things going on in their wordly home instead of their eternal home.
Benjamin Franklin once said “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” This is the reality for all people, if we don’t personally see Jesus gloriously return in our lifetime we will face the death of our physical body.
When I lost my dear D D Dot (my grandmother) to cancer years back, her neighbor came over with a casserole and some comforting words. The kind neighbor said something to me that will always stick with me, she said; “It was never supposed to be this way.” She went on to remind me why loss of a loved one is so heavy and painful, because God didn’t intend His design to be this way. God created this earth without death and for His image bearers to be in relationship with Him without sin. It was the fall that brought in sin and death, and even with our rejection of God, He saved us and re-wrote the story for what death means for the Christian.
Though death may be certain for us, it is certain that death and the eternal life promised to us is different for those who are in Christ. Not only is this our reality but what we believe about the life after this one profoundly impacts how we live today.
“But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.”
-Philippians 3:20-21 NLT
Heaven is our Home
When you think of your home, what comes to mind? Maybe the familiarities of your hometown or the comforts of your house and family?
As Christians, our hope and our home is not on this earth. It’s in Heaven, it’s with Jesus.
The New City Catechism Q1 states:
What Is Our Only Hope in Life and Death?
“That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.”
For those who are in Christ, we belong to Jesus and no one can take that from us! We are His and He is ours, therefore our hearts should long to be reunited with our wonderful savior Jesus.
Oftentimes we look to things that are meant to point us to God to fulfill the longing that can only be found fulfilled in Jesus. The good things we get to enjoy here are to be a foretaste of the perfection of Heaven.
If we believe that this life is all there is and try to find that longing satisfied in earthly things (that we won’t take with us to Heaven), we will be gravely disappointxed.
“We’re fat, disappointed, driven, in debt, and addicted because we treat this here-and now moment as if it were all we have”
-Paul David Tripp
In this life, the Lord will mold you and shape you to be more and more like Jesus, to be more satisfied in Him instead of worldly things. As those who have actual citizenship in Heaven, where this earth is not our home, it should have an immense impact on our perspective and how we live today. Choose to live with the mentality that this life is not all that we have and we are living for something bigger than this life. This life is but a vapor compared to the time we will spend with our Lord in Heaven. Don’t get upset at God when things aren’t working out the way you want in this life, you aren’t meant to only live here on earth. Instead, come to Him with your burdens and be honest with Him, for He’s preparing you for eternity with God.
“God calls Christians to live with a preparation mentality rather than a destination mentality. This life is not intended to be our final destination. Rather, it is God’s intended means of preparing us for eternity in his presence. This preparation occurs in and through the imperfections and disappointments of this present life. We often miss God’s grace because we’re expecting it to show up as deliverance from troubles rather than the character-refining troubles themselves.”-Paul David Tripp
As citizens of Heaven, it’s crucial that we remind each other: This world is not all that we have. Fix your eyes on Jesus, he is our goal. Let’s finish well and strong. There is much to be frustrated about because of the evil being done in this world and we are longing for Jesus to return, restore, and make all things new. Together let’s cry out in prayer “Come, Lord Jesus.”
Jesus is Returning
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’”
-Revelation 21:1-4 ESV
Have you ever been part of a wedding and seen how much preparation and eager expectation is put into a wedding? Just as Christ being our groom and we as the church are His bride, we should prepare and have eager expectation for His return because our Redeemer, the one who overcame sin and death, is coming back in power.
Jesus is going to restore all things and life will have no more sin in it! We will no longer be riddled with worry, pain, and suffering. We will be reunited with the One we were created for. This news should make you wanna get up and dance and rejoice! This isn’t some positive fluff that I’m trying to feed you so you can be encouraged. This is the truth. This is a reality. This is the hope we as Christians bank on. This is the Gospel that we are to preach to ourselves and others.
When we take inventory on how we’re waiting, do we find ourselves living with an eternal perspective, eager and expectant for His return? Are we truly ready? We won’t know the hour of His return but we should absolutely live differently as if He could come back today.
“We belong to a far-off home-land and wait for the King of that land to come and fetch us. Our names are on the citizenship rolls there and our place is secure, but while we wait here we must live as if we were there.”
-J. A. Motyer
The All-Powerful will Empower You to Live with an Eternal Perspective
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”-Romans 8:18 ESV
Though we are guaranteed to face difficulties in life, we don’t face them alone or without hope. To live with an eternal perspective as a Citizen of Heaven we must spend time with Jesus relationally, preach the gospel to ourselves and one another (as if their eternal lives depended on it!), rely on the Holy Spirit for strength, and worship Him with our lives confidently knowing that our home is with Him in Heaven and nothing or no one can take that from us. In this temporary suffering, God will sustain you in the hard times and you will one day have forever with your creator where sin and death will be no more. Until that day, our eager prayer should be for Christ to return triumphantly soon. With Heaven as our home we don’t live for the best life now, we live for Christ knowing that death is a gain, where life eternally with Him is far better than anything we’re blessed with on this side of Heaven. Let’s live with eternity in mind as we pour out our lives as an offering in the short time we have here on earth.
“All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle