Heaven

This is a little long...but even if you do not read the whole message..please, especially those who have recently parted with a loved one, read the poem...it is something that to me carried great comfort...and great hope.

We visited a church in Austin (Shoreline) this past week...with some precious friends who are family by marriage. They called us and told us about a series that their pastor had been doing on Heaven ...and Sunday was to be the wrap up. The pastors' dad had died last year from a boating accident...and just days later their 17 year old son was killed in a car accident. So Heaven is a place in the family's mind that is a very real homestead for those who are no longer abiding on this earth....

We don't hear too much about heaven...and usually when we do it is a casual reference but the sermon brought this casual topic to light in a way that I had not thought too much about....and since we all have parted ways, not by choice, with a loved one at some point and they are no longer living on this earth, this subject was of particular interest to me and I thought might be to you too.

The question was: How do we live today in light of what we know about heaven?
Now how would you answer that? Do you think about heaven each time you make a decision? Do you consider heaven when trials come barreling into your life? What about heaven as a pivot point on priorities? Before you contemplate that any further...how do you perceive heaven? Is it just an obscure place of fantasy or do you believe it to be the true eternal homeward bound destination.

I just have not ever spent too much time really thinking about it. I know that is where those who believe in Christ have gone to live an eternal life..and I do believe that there will a reunion with those we have loved and parted with...but how does that effect me and my everyday living on this earth.

It effects me by knowing that whatever happens here on this earth is not the end of the story. There is always home in Heaven to look forward to ...it is the reward that all who believe in Jesus will receive no matter what is going on or has gone on here on earth.

This life on Earth matters not because it is the only life we have but because it is precisely NOT the only life we have. There is a life to come that ...and when we "get" that revelation of the beauty of what heaven is all about...we are effected and it does change how we live the life that we have on this earth. How? By these four points:

1) It shapes our priorities and perspective to our values...helps us to realize what is truly important and what is not....we tend to put so much emphasis on things that have no lasting value...and sidestep things that do...ex...the outcome of a sports game or the rewards of a to do list... vs relationships and sharing what you know of Jesus and his transforming ways
God is IMPORTANT...what is really important is that which is going to last for eternity!!! It helps to keep us out of the trash bends looking for scraps knowing that what is ahead is a place of comfort and true contentment.

2) It makes us grateful -
Our past has been forgiven
Our present is assured by the presence and promises of God himself
Our future is not in question - heaven is our eternal home
Heaven is a place that has been created for us by a father whose love for us has no bounds. When we accept that truth we also are to accept that hope that has been offered to us as eternal life...heaven is the reward to our faith and our belief...

3) It gives us the power to persevere
gives us hope and perspective...brings us back to higher standard than one that only the world can see. It keep us moving forward knowing that the story is not over...there is something beyond our trials and our pains and our sufferings on this earth...something greater and richer. What we have now is not all there is.
We are not home yet,,,there is a sense of destiny that we have not yet reached. We have to just keep moving forward...with our focus carefully staying aligned with the hope of heaven.


4) Frees us from the power of death -
Death has been swallowed up in victory. The victory is in eternal life. God will redeem our circumstances so that the pain and the suffering of loss and hardship will be overcome and overshadowed by the joy of our reunion.

The pastor ended with a quote that is very soothing to the hearts of those of us who have lost loved ones....Maybe you have heard it but it is surely worth repeating...and it touched me with a true sense of comfort It is a boat story...

Parable of Immortality ( A ship leaves . . . )
by Henry Van Dyke - 1852 - 1933


I am standing by the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch
until at last she hangs like a peck of white cloud
just where the sun and sky come down to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says, 'There she goes!
Gone where? Gone from my sight - that is all.

She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the places of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
'There she goes! ' ,
there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout :
'Here she comes!'

May Heaven be in your sight today as you contemplate decisions to be made, trials to be overcome, relationships to nurture, sorrow to be comforted and pain to be relieved...for the story of heaven is of HOPE....Hope today for what is to come...all who believe in Jesus are homeward bound to Heaven...and some will arrive earlier than others...oh but when we reunite...what joy there will be.
Hebrews 12: 28
28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe

Dear Lord, Thank you for going to make an eternal living place for us in your Heaven. Help us to not grow weary on this earth but to maintain a steady gait and continue to move forward in the hope that you have given us. Amen

Praise God wherever you are or whatever situation he has allowed you to be in...for His glory will shine through.

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