The Beauty of Heaven

Although suffering was never supposed to be a part of the plan, God used and still uses Jesus to turn our graves into gardens. Psalm 30:11-12 says, “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lore my God, I will praise you forever” (NIV). Not only will God replace our wailing with dancing and clothe us with joy in Heaven, he is doing this work right now. When we live life in the Holy Spirit, we have a deposit guaranteeing what is to come (Ephesians 1:14). This means that we get to experience Christ’s victory over sin and death in our lives right now. We don’t have to wait for Heaven to experience this victory, we just have to wait for Heaven for the fullness of the victory. Right now, Jesus wants to replace our fear with faith. He wants to replace our anger with unending joy. He wants to replace our apathy with purpose. He wants to show up in our pain and suffering and offer hope and peace. Jesus is undoing the damage of sin and death every single day, and he is inviting us to be a part of this work. Every time someone is baptized, we are a part of this work. Every time someone surrenders to Jesus, we are a part of this work. Every time we overcome sin and temptation, we are a part of this work. Every time we disciple believers to follow Jesus whole-heartedly, we are a part of this work. Jesus wants to use our brokenness and make it into something beautiful, and then he wants to use our stories to make more brokenness beautiful. The work of Heaven is happening in our midst right now, are you ready to be a part of it? Reflection/Discussion Question: How have you been a part of or experienced Jesus’s redemptive work in your life?

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?