The Beauty of Heaven

Heaven may be our home, but Jesus has given us a mission to bring along as many people as possible as we make our way home. Salvation is not just a ticket to heaven, but an invitation to extend to the homeless. If we remember the parable of the Good Samaritan, we can see a picture of what it looks like to walk on the path towards heaven as we live out our limited time on earth. The man who falls victim to robbers is skipped over by a priest and a Levite. It is the Good Samaritan who stopped to do everything he could to help the man. He went to great lengths to show love and care to this man. It’s not as if the Samaritan didn’t have a place to be or a to-do list like the priest and Levite, but because he stopped in his tracks, it’s obvious that the Samaritan had his eyes focused on loving people. Nothing can stop you in your tracks without a mission or purpose. If we know that our time is limited on this earth, we need to be people marked with a sense of urgency to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. If our mission is to love people, then a person in need of love interrupting our busy schedules and to-do lists should be exactly what we are looking for. Nothing we give our lives to is more important than bringing people into the Kingdom of Heaven with us.  This means that we can still drive our kid to soccer games, but what if we picked up a few teammates along the way and invested in intentional relationships with those kids and their parents? And instead of screaming at the ref on the sidelines, you encouraged the players and invested in relationships with the screaming parents on the sidelines? When we live life on mission, each area of our lives becomes an opportunity for the Gospel to invade and transform the lives of others around us. As we tread the difficult path toward heaven, our home, we can start to bring heaven on earth so that people can get a taste of what home will be like in eternity. Reflection/Discussion Question: What area of your life do you need to start using for the mission of the Gospel of Christ?

John 13:35 says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (NIV). Notice how Jesus doesn’t say, “if you perform the miracles I have been performing,” or, “if you talk about me with unbelievers,” or, “if you stand up for your faith in the face of opposition.” The disciples went on to do this and more as they formed the early church, but it wasn’t by the miracles, their speeches, or their boldness that formed the early church. It was their love. Acts 2:42-47 talks about how the apostles devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. They gave to anyone who had need. They continued to meet together. They were joyful and constantly praised God. And Acts 2:47b says, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (NIV). This community of love is what made the church spread like wildfire even in the face of opposition. To experience the apostles’ love for one another was to experience the love of Jesus—and people couldn’t get enough. It is not through arguments, lofty speech, theological debates, political conversations, loud demonstrations, church attendance, or social media posts that the Lord will add to our number daily those who are being saved. It is by our love for one another. Especially in times of division and suffering, we have the opportunity to show the world who Jesus truly is by the way we love one another. Reflection/Discussion Question: What does it look like to live out Jesus’s love for one another in your every day life?