A Foretaste of Heaven

“However, as it is written:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

no mind has conceived

what God has prepared for those who love him”

I Corinthians 2:9 NIV

 

Of all the holidays, I seem to enjoy Thanksgiving the most because it only lasts for one day. It celebrates faith, family, friends, and food! Thanksgiving is a special day that I focus on my many blessings and offer up my gratitude to God for his provision. Although I enjoy Thanksgiving it is not my favorite holiday. Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but because Christmas seems to last for months it wears me out! The preparation and the clean up just about ruins the meaning of this holy holiday. I find that I must always guard against that scenario. Easter is an amazing holiday because it signals the arrival of spring and the message of our risen Lord. Easter gives eternal hope to all believers! For that reason I would have to say that Easter is my favorite holiday.

 

Thanksgiving is a special American holiday that is set apart from other days. It is a day for all of us to focus on our blessings. Being thankful for the good things in life are always at the top of my list! I am ashamed to say that sometimes I verbalize that I am thankful for family, health, and financial provision before I even think to be thankful for my precious gift of God’s forgiveness and my hope of eternal life. I neglect to express thanks for the graciousness of God as he continues to give me his love, joy, peace, comfort, and guidance. In reality all of the things that I cannot put a price tag on are my most treasured possessions. My faith, family, health, and God's provision for me cannot be purchased and they are my greatest blessings. I must remember that I do not have a single blessing outside of the hand of God. I am so thankful that God loves me so lavishly and extravagantly. I will never understand why God is so incredibly good to me.

 

There is no doubt that sometimes life hits us hard and throws us for a loop! Sickness comes, we experience personal loss, bills pile up, and natural disasters destroy our homes and communities, wars separate us from those we love, and death robs us of someone dear to our heart. Still God is good.

 

God has so much in store for those who love him. A new Heaven and earth, and his Kingdom, will be ours to enjoy for all eternity! It will be a world without end. We will enjoy forever a life void of conflict, tears, pain, abuse, misunderstandings, stress, and struggle. Sickness, suffering, and death will be left behind.

 

Even on my worst day, I am still so blessed! It is sometimes hard for me to imagine more blessings. I can always imagine more wealth and happy endings but I cannot imagine more of what God has planned for me! The blessings that God has so richly bestowed upon me now serve only as a foretaste of what God has in store for me in eternity.  My blessings in this life is a little like pinching off a bite of the turkey before mom has placed it on the table. Or a bit like tasting the stuffing before it is served. For sure it is like licking the beaters after the sweet cream is whipped and then sticking my finger in the pumpkin pie! The yummy before dinner bites is just a little foretaste of what is yet to come. Soon most of us will sit down to our traditional family feast. We have waited all year for this meal and anticipated all day actually eating the delicious food that has been tantalizing our nostrils as we have patiently waited to be called to the table of blessing. Finally, the moment is here and it is above and beyond all we could have ever anticipated or hoped for.

 

I can only imagine that heaven will be the same way. We read God’s Word and learn about this wonderful place. We especially tune in to the words of Jesus as he tells us he is going away to prepare a place for us, a place with many rooms; so that where he is we may be also. In the book of Revelation we read John’s description of heaven and the Lamb of God, and we dream, anticipate, and look forward to Jesus coming again. Believers long to be a part of the rapture that will sweep us up to heaven before our death, but even if death takes us first we still are comforted with the blessing of our hope of heaven.

This life offers many tantalizing blessings of many earthly pleasures that come straight from the hand of God. These blessings are but a foretaste of heaven divine! Jesus wants us to experience the love of family in this life so that we can better understand his love. Jesus wants us to plunge deep into our relationship with him now so that when we meet him, our Lord and Savior, we will behold his glory in an even greater capacity. God wants us to experience the beauty of his creation and the bounty of his provision now, so that we can look forward to an even more magnificent perfect creation and his limitless provision forever. God is a God of abundance! As we experience this abundant life now, we still look forward to an even greater abundant life in heaven that will last forever. For all these things we give thanks not only on Thanksgiving but on every other day as well!

 

Question:

 

What are your top three priceless blessings?

Even on your worst day, do you still feel blessed?

 

Have you taken time to tell God how grateful you are? 

 

Prayer:

 

Dear God,

 

I am privileged and blessed to experience amazing blessings from you loving hands every day. I thank you God for your goodness to me. God you are good all the time not just in plenty but also in want. Father, forgive me when I become so self absorbed that I forget that all things are from your hand. God, I thank you for your forgiveness of my sin. I even thank you that you take my misfortune and make it into opportunities to change me and develop godly character within my heart. Heavenly Father, I am so blessed to know that even when the circumstances of life seem to be more than I can bear you are still there. God you come along side of me and weep when I weep. You see my need and always provide more than enough.  You provide for many who are not able to work and also for those who cannot find work. You give strength to the weak and weary when it seems that their strength is almost gone. You give comfort in loss and hope for tomorrow. Today God, I pray for all those who today may be alone, hungry, cold, sick, suffering, and feel they are at the end of their rope. Father, send someone to help them in their darkest hour. I pray Father, that all of us will look to you whose heart is good all the time, and give grateful thanks.

 

In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.

Will Heaven Be Worth It?

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him.”
I Corinthians 2:9 NIV

If you are like me, you may have at some point thought that heaven would be boring. I don’t know about you but I have no desire to ride around on clouds and play a harp. If that is what you and I think about heaven, then our minds are full of misconceptions! However, heaven will be being with God forever. It is the prize, the reward at the end of life’s race. It will be having the privilege to go back into God’s garden of perfection. The Bible tells us that, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” Because of that scripture I know that heaven will be a wonderful place where I will get to lay aside all of my earthly problems.

The truth is that in heaven our non-productive, un-appreciated work will be over. There will be no one in heaven that will ever misunderstand us again. We will get to stop maintaining our 401-K’s, and our stock portfolios. We will no longer pay bills or taxes. There will not be any concern regarding the possibility of losing our jobs, or how we are going to make ends meet. We will not have to worry about the high cost of living, or how we are going to be able to afford college for our children. We will no longer care about the price of food and gas or if the economy will bounce back.

In heaven, we will get to stop maintaining our diets and our aging bodies. We will not live inside a body that confines us and keeps us from doing the things that we were once able to do. There will be no more handicaps or mental illness. There will be no more physical, mental or sexual abuse. Failed marriages and personal rejection from others will be over. Worrying about our inadequacies, our failures, and our self-esteem will be a thing of the past.

Imagine this – the air we breathe will actually be fresh and clean. The food we eat will be better than organic. Recycling will be over, global warnings and thinking “green” will be obsolete. We will not have to deal with the heartache of war. All of the racism, prejudices, and intolerances of our world will be gone. Death, illness, pain, suffering, and poverty will all be over. We will never again have to elect a president or any other public official. Terrorists and dictators will be gone forever. Sin and the result of sin will be abolished! Satan will be cast into hell for all eternity and we will never have to listen to his lies or be attacked by him again.

Heaven will indeed be an amazing place! In heaven there will be productive work to do which will bring us great enjoyment and satisfaction. But best of all, in heaven we will get to see Jesus face to face. I cannot comprehend or image what meeting Jesus will be like, but I am sure it will be exceedingly wonderful! I really cannot wrap my mind around being in the presence of God, but I do believe that there will be both great and indescribable joy attached to the experience. When Jesus was on earth his followers adored him! Why would our experience be any different? Yes, in heaven we will adore Jesus! Will it be worth it? Absolutely!

Questions:

What is your view of heaven?

How do you feel about leaving all of the problems in life behind?

How does it make you feel to realize that no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him?

Do you know for sure that you will go to heaven when you die?

If you are unsure, pray and ask God to forgive your sins and give you that assurance.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,

You have given me much in this life that I enjoy, and people that I love. In my humanness it makes me sad to think of leaving those I love behind. Help me to enjoy all of those you have given me and my many blessings every single day. In addition, please give me spiritual eyes so that I might also anticipate the joy of your heaven and meeting you face to face. Help me to make time for you in this life so that I will indeed be comfortable with you in heaven.

In Your Name I pray. Amen.