We can never know about the days to come / But we think about them anyway / And I wonder if I’m really with you now / Or just chasin’ after some finer day – “Anticipation” by Carly Simon
I wrote in a previous blog that I need to live in the present moment, one day at a time. I even shared how I feel worried, or at least unprepared, for whatever the future holds. And while it’s true that I should not worry about tomorrow, what happens if I’m excited for it? Can I live in the future just a little, if it gives me some hope and makes me eager for what’s to come? Here’s my near future: in just a few days, Lord willing, I’ll be at my home away from home: the ocean and the beach that lies along its edge.
My youngest daughter is so excited for our upcoming vacation that she presented me with a complete “play-by-play” analysis of everything she wants to do on our trip, an analysis that took every second of a 30-minute car ride. If it’s possible, her words made me even more eager for the trip than she is. We’re heading to the coast, as I mentioned, and it’s my ideal home, or happy place; it’s the part of this planet that I’m even tempted to call “heaven on earth.”
But that last phrase led me to think about our eternal future and the real heaven waiting for those who have responded to God’s offer of salvation. While it seems easier to anticipate “heaven on earth” than “a new heaven and a new earth,” there’s actually no comparison between the two. Heaven is a real place, where God lives, that’s been designed for us. Jesus said, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2). He also shared this invitation with us: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
Revelation chapter 21 tells us, among other things that heaven is where God will live with us in the place where He makes everything new. While He does life with us, He will wipe every tear from our eyes and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away. This new heaven and new earth might well be called our forever home away from home. While I strive to live in the present, I can’t help but long for a future that’s not only better than my favorite place in this world, but actually far more incredible than anything I can even begin to imagine.“
What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived—the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Troy Burns