If the apostle John hasn’t already conveyed to us that My Father’s House is spectacular, his description of the streets surely does. But I wonder if there is a subtle message to us contained in his description – a message that my wise mother, with her characteristic humor, pointed out to me when she dryly exclaimed that you can tell what God thinks of gold because He paves the streets of heaven with it! Gold is really just heavenly asphalt! In other words, there are many things down here on earth that we give a top priority to, which in eternity will be inconsequential and insignificant.
It’s sobering to contemplate how much time, effort, sacrifice, compromise, and attention we give to acquiring and increasing our supply of something that is totally insignificant in eternity. What are your priorities? As you live them out, will they have eternal value and significance?
As wonderful as my loved ones are and as much as I miss them, they are not perfect! And if your loved ones are like mine, your relationship with them on earth has not been perfect either. To think of living forever in the same home with my brother would give one pause! But when we get to Heaven, the joy of seeing our loved ones once again is immeasurably increased when we realize that all of us will indeed be perfect! There will be no more . . .
disagreements or cross words,
hurt feelings or misunderstandings,
neglect or busyness,
interruptions or rivalry,
jealousy or pride,
selfishness or sin of any kind!
There will be nothing at all to mar our full enjoyment of being with our loved ones forever and ever!
We all have dreams of what home should be like. . . . Do you dream of a home with love and laughter and loyalty, with family and fun and freedom?
Do you dream of a home where you are accepted, encouraged, and challenged, forgiven, understood, and comforted?
There is hope! The home you’ve always wanted, the home you continue to long for with all your heart, is the home God is preparing for you! As John gazed at a vision of the glory of Jesus Christ . . . , he stood in awed wonder of “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1,NIV). What he saw was confirmed by the words of One Who was seated on the throne: “I am making everything new!” Imagine it: One day, in the dream home of My Father’s House, everything will be brand-new and you will live in the home of your dreams!
The wonderful good news of the Gospel was shouted out so clearly by the apostle Paul that it still resounds today: The wages of sin is physical death and spiritual deadness as well. BUT the gift of God is eternal life, spiritual life, abundant life through faith in Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God.
What did you think you had to add to your existence in order to experience real life?
Increasing your investment portfolio?
Traveling to more exotic destinations?
Possessing the latest car or computer?
Achieving public recognition?
Reaching your professional goal?
Wearing the trendiest fashion?
If you want purpose and meaning and satisfaction and fulfillment and peace and hope and joy and abundant life that lasts forever, look to Jesus!
Bad things do happen to those Jesus loves. But remember this spiritual principle: Glory follows suffering, and life follows death.
Miss Audrey Wetherell Johnson was a woman greatly beloved of God. Born in England, educated in Europe, delivered from agnosticism, and transformed by God’s grace into a gifted Bible teacher and preacher, she answered God’s call to the mission field in China during the 1930s. After years of teaching pastors and church leaders in a theological seminary in Beijing, Miss Johnson was scooped up with other missionaries and placed in a Japanese concentration camp for three years of intolerable and unmentionable suffering. Yet once again we glimpse God’s glory when we learn that Miss Johnson was finally released, came to America, and began Bible Study Fellowship, an international ministry that now has approximately one million men and women who use her material and format to study God’s Word each week.
If something bad has happened to you, would you look forward to the glory that IS coming?!
