Two years ago, my family and I decided to take our first Disney vacation. We started planning about ten months out. We bought books, searched on line, and talked with many people who had already been to the Magical Kingdom. The goal was to be as prepared as we possibly could be. It was funny at how much it consumed my thoughts. I found myself talking to strangers about our preparations for this incredible trip we were about to take. Many fed off my excitement and would begin asking questions. Some were turned off by the mere mention of such a trip. Others just smiled and listened to me chatter away. Such joy came to me and my family as we planned and anticipated our long awaited journey.
Thinking about the preparation for that destination made me ponder the thought of my final destination; the moment that I take my final breath and enter into THE Kingdom. When I was little, I thought of heaven as a mystical place where we all floated down the streets of gold and sang "hallelujah" for eternity. Eternity....the idea of never having an end point was just too much for my young mind to dwell on. Even now, it is hard for me to really comprehend it.
John 14: 1-3 says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am you may be also." (John 14:1-3). There is room for many people in God's Kingdom. Those who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior will dwell in this Kingdom with him. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, he told the thief, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43 (NIV) Upon the thief's death he would be with Jesus. The moment we leave this temporary home, we will be at home with the Lord.
I believe that we have lost the eternal perspective...and that sets us up (especially the younger population) for great heartache, disappointment, and sin. We get fixated on things we want or need at the moment, such as popularity, drugs, sex, good grades, climbing the ladder of success, etc. for fear that we might miss out on something. But what we were truly made for is to be in relationship with God and other people and, ultimately, to dwell in Heaven. Missing this truth can have destructive ramifications in this life.
Randy Alcorn, in his book Heaven, mentions that the church has shown an unbiblical view of our heavenly home. He states that some of Satan’s best untruths are about Heaven. Satan knows that if we truly grasped the existence of Heaven, it would completely change our present lives. We would have far more determination and fearlessness if we saw the world from an eternal mindset. Can you imagine what would happen if all believers captured this mindset and acted upon it?
“God has planted eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecclesiastes. 3:10 TLB).
The realization that there must be something more lies deep within us all. Some people try to stay busy in order to fill that nagging question. Max Lucado wrote this in a post from he had on the "Preach It, Teach It" website,
"Take a fish and place him on the beach. Watch his gills gasp and scales dry. Is he happy? No! How do you make him happy? Do you cover him with a mountain of cash? Do you get him a beach chair and sunglasses? Do you bring him a Playfish magazine and martini? Do you wardrobe him in double-breasted fins and people-skinned shoes?
Of course not. Then how do you make him happy? You put him back in his element. You put him back in the water. He will never be happy on the beach simply because he was not made for the beach."
We were not made for this earth. We were made for so much more. Only through surrendering our hearts and minds to the Lord each day and keeping our sights set toward our heavenly home will we experience peace. Unsurrpassing peace as we look toward our final destination!
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