When Gloria wrote her final exam of the semester, she could not wait to finish. For months now, she had been counting the days to go home and finally, the day had arrived! She was tired and looked forward to going home to her parents and spend time with them in the beautiful old farmhouse.
She would be able to sleep late, catch up on her reading and play with the dogs in the shady garden. Her mother would spoil her as usual with food and tea and genuinely serious, but also light-hearted conversations. Her father would accompany her to go horse riding in the afternoon. She longed to go home and see them again.
The farmhouse was an old, but beautiful building. The garden was huge with big trees and flower beds all over. Two dogs usually watched her every move while a cat slept peacefully on the big couch. Gloria always imagined heaven to be like this house on the farm.
Today, nine years later, Gloria is married with two children of her own. The farmhouse is still as beautiful as ever but so much has changed since her college days. Her parents passed away, first her dad and a year later her mother. Her brother took over the farm and he and his wife moved into the old farmhouse.
Although the house is still there and everything almost as it was before, visiting the farm is just not the same any more. The two people that made the difference are not there. Gloria realises that without them, the farmhouse is just another house.
The day will come when each and every one of us would die and have to move to heaven. The same scenario that Gloria faced after her parents had died, is staring us right in the face from a slightly different angle. Would heaven just be a future destination or might there be another reason to look forward to our going there?
People looking at heaven as only a place of eternal retirement might be in for a big surprise. If a person chooses heaven to get rid of all the worries and sorrows, or to live forever, I am not sure whether he would be found in the new heaven and earth. There is a much higher objective.
Heaven is the home of God. The only single reason why we should desire to go to heaven, is to be in God’s physical presence. There we will be able to look at Jesus and talk to Him as we talked to Him on earth but then face to face, the same way Adam did before he sinned.
I wonder, that if we do not want to be close to God, why then would we want to go to heaven?
In fact, the same applies for our desire to be Christians now. It is not to be safe, prosperous and blessed but rather to be close to Jesus while living on earth.
Every human being has to make a choice while he is still alive. Once a person is dead, the deadline for options has passed and the default destination kicks in, which is hell.
However, choosing Jesus is not about choosing a final destiny, it is about deciding to follow Him every day of our lives which extends well beyond our life on earth.
Gloria’s parents looked forward to her visits every time and they dreaded the times when she had to leave again. Jesus feels exactly the same. He loves us very much and desires to spoil us with food and tea and daily chats. He wants to accompany us should we go horse riding or walking with our dogs or working in the office. He hates the moments when we forget that He is present.
God looks forward to our moving over to heaven but He desires a daily relationship with Him now.
We should know Jesus the way Gloria knew her parents and this can only happen if we have a relationship with Him. Only then should we look forward to go to heaven, to be in His physical presence.
God knows when you will be moving over and He loves you so much, He is counting the days.