When I think about my wife and the joy
of seeing her again in nine months, a surge of emotion shoots into my
stomach, like a jolt of electricity.
My joy in anticipating the reunion that
will happen is based on the reality of what I know to be true about
her love for me. It’s not something I’m unsure of. I know she
will be waiting for me with her loving embrace because of my history
with her and her demonstration of that love in the past.
This is my point: the hope of heaven is
very real, not because some tradition says it’s real, or because
some sage wrote about it on a piece of paper thousands of years ago,
or because a lot of people believe it’s true. The hope of heaven
is real because it’s grounded in the truth of what happened on the
cross and in the resurrection of Jesus. The truth of what Jesus did
validates the Scriptures that speak of Heaven, and thus gives me
something real to look forward to and savor with anticipation in my
present moment. It gives me an anchor to hold on to when the storm is
raging.
What Jesus did 2,000 years ago
establishes a precedent from which I can expect Heaven to be a
reality I can hope in. This precedent gives me confidence in the
future which, in turn, gives me peace for today and sustains me. It’s
not a whim. It’s a reality. The past and the future are beautiful
for me! Not because I envision it through positive thinking, but
because God made it so for me through his action. That leaves me in
the present with nothing to do but live joyfully, knowing full well
that I am secure. And not only am I secure, but who I am and what I
do has significance in light of eternity. It’s like an Oreo of
hope! I am securely sandwiched in the middle of the goodness of what
happened in the past, and the glory of what will happen in the
future.
A friend I was worrying to once said,
“Pete, when you have one foot in yesterday, lamenting what once
was, and one foot in tomorrow, worrying about what will be, you are
in perfect position to pee on today.”
Well, that’s not exactly elegant, but
it’s absolutely true. As a son of God, I should never be in that
position! Jesus has deleted my guilty history, replacing it with his
righteousness. And God has deposited in my future the glorious hope
of the New Heaven and the New Earth. Because I’m sealed in those
promises, today looks better than ever!
Let’s remove our feet from the
sorrows of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow and stand firmly
planted in the joy-giving promises of today. (And the next time you
eat an Oreo, remember that the creamy middle is the joyful hope we
have today sandwiched between the reality of the cross and the
reality of the New Heaven and the New Earth!)
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