Daily Devotional

Often, we become so wrapped up in the affairs of everyday life, that we do not spend much time thinking about heaven.  Eternity often is something we have considered to be unrelated to life as we live it.  But in reality, it has great bearing on all that we do.  The Scriptures have much to say about living each day with the proper perspective on what is eternal.

Sadly, we often have not trained ourselves to fix our minds on the future world.  Complicating the whole matter is that his present world is so tangible.  We can touch it, see it and enjoy it.  But we also may be distracted by what we can touch, see and enjoy.  We must consciously choose to listen to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and train our hearts to see beyond this world.
Often, we find that heaven and eternity are a missing emphasis in today’s Christianity.  We have focused on meeting earth-side needs.  No wonder many think that heaven and eternity is just a P.S. on the Christian experience rather than the heart of it.

Stop to think for a moment.  Today, we have received only a small portion of what God will give us in salvation.  When I trusted in Christ as my Savior, He gave me the first installment of my salvation.  God renewed my mind that I might be able to think His thoughts.  Without Christ and the Holy Spirit’s work in my life I could not understand spiritual things.  In salvation He has given me the capacity to think God type thoughts since He has given me the mind of Christ.

But there is coming a day when the salvation I possess will also change my soul and body.  Peter reveals that the end of my faith is the eternal plan for the salvation of my soul.  (1 Peter 1:9) We often do not understand why we do the things we do and why we feel the way we do.  Someday all this will be changed for the glory of God.

My body has not yet received the salvation God is going to give us.  According to 1 John 3:1-3, when Christ returns our bodies will be changed to be like Christ.  God is going to give us a glorified body that has no more sickness, pain or limitations.

If eternity and heaven are not at the core of our lives, then we will have only a limited view of the fullness of life and salvation that God has prepared for us.  We need to recognize today the importance of heaven/eternity and that it should be the center of our existence not letting the gravity of this world pull us back.

Keeping eternity in view as a habit of our hearts is not just something that would be nice, but it is necessary.  A heaven that is dimly lit results in a life poorly lived.

Prayer:  Lord, help me to live each day with heaven in view.  I want my focus to be on You and the future You have prepared for me.  Thank you, Lord, for the great hope we have in You.  Amen