Day Forty-seven

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior
from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 3:20)

Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:18–21; John 14:1–4

Most of the time life on earth has to get pretty miserable for us to long for our heavenly home. Don’t you agree? We’re just not homesick most of the time. In many ways we are less than excited about what awaits us.

My longing for heaven is actually my longing for Christ. I want to spend eternity in heaven because He is there and I have loved Him since childhood. I yearn to see His face. I can’t wait to worship Him in person, talk with Him, and take a walk with Him.

In the past I was quite excited about spending eternity with Christ but less enthused about the setting. I simply couldn’t picture a perfect place. Heaven seemed like a dreamland to me. Aspects of this earth really appeal to me. Rugged mountains and rapid rivers. The distant sound of a train. Old wooden bridges. Small country churches with pealing paint and off-key pianos. Toothless first-graders.

I want Christ so intensely I can hardly bear it, but I realize at times that I want Him here—near the things I love. Then the greater reality hits: He wants you and me there—near the things He loves.

Our problem with heaven is fear of trading in the familiar for the ethereal. We picture our future home like a vaporous ghost town where we’ll have see-through bodies and sing for eons. Let’s allow God to readjust our thinking. Heaven is authentic real estate. We’ll feel ground beneath our feet. We will have touchable bodies. Contrary to popular belief, we will not be angels. We will be completed, perfected, suddenly immortal human beings. The objects surrounding us will be tangible. Heaven is a place of clarity and complete reality. We will recognize one another and fellowship together. We will live in an active community. We will experience the indescribable joy of true worship and the ultimate in emotional and spiritual intimacy.

What we enjoy most on earth will be greatly enhanced in heaven. The best of earth is only a shadow of what is to come. We will give up nothing good. Good will simply be perfected. Christ said, “I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). He is preparing a “home” for us in every sense of the word—not a place where we’ll feel like strangers. In heaven we will exchange longing for belonging. We will sit, stand, walk, eat, touch, and express emotions. Our senses will be quickened in ways that would be unbearable in our present form. The veil of the fathomable will be removed from our eyes. We will behold reality.

The best part of heaven is that Christ will be there. He waits to show us our new homes, new neighbors, the best of everything we’ve loved—only so much better. “Our citizenship is in heaven.” Walk in faith toward a better reality.