Aim for Heaven

Hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not... a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is.

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next... It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth "thrown in": Aim at earth and you will get neither."
-C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3:1-3

Voice of the Martyrs

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18

So easy to forget that our bodies are wasting away while we are here. Morbid... but true. The only renewing we have is in Christ/spiritually/inwardly. Outwardly in every form we are living in imperfect tents awaiting what is to come in Christ. This is just not the place they were created for. So until the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb (Revelation 5) comes back to have complete rule and kingship- Romans 8 says that we will groan and long for what is to come.

But we can forget that this is not the place to set up our kingdoms... It is the place to long for, welcome in, pray earnestly for, work toward, anticipate, and bring glory to the Kingdom of the One who will soon reign. It's time I lay down the crown I feel so entitled to wear... Lay it down at the feet of the only One worthy to wear it.

Lord, remind us that this is not it. This life, this great life overflowing with one blessing after another from your gracious hand is a plot, a ground, a time to give glory and honor to our God. May we not lose heart in the waiting. We anticipate the day when our jaws will drop in your presence and we will then see "THIS is our God!"


- I wrote this as I sat reading a Voice of the Martyrs update. This email was so hard to read as a mother, thinking about your child ever being tortured. And of course, I wandered- Why? And then He reminded me of the verse from this morning... That there is a greater glory at stake. What we see now is temporary so we hope for what is eternal in Christ.

http://www.salememail.com/specialoffers/VOM_Persecution/VOM_persecution_watch_full.aspx?id=2

The Groaning in the Waiting

As I woke this morning, snuggled up with my three and a half year old, my heart felt strangely heavy within. I couldn't put my finger on it. As I scanned our day and the joy of the upcoming weekend, I could not for the life of me understand the tension & frustration within my spirit. The joy that I should have woken with lay masked beneath layers of discontent & longing.

Longing for what?

As joy seemed so distant, I quickly opened to words of truth to help make out the confusion.

"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." (Romans 8:22-23)

The New Living Translation says:

"And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.

We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)"

And in this the Lord reminded me. There ought to be a groaning. There ought to be greater longing for the "release from sin & suffering" that is to come. We have been given a "foretaste of future glory". For right now we see in part, but soon we will see & know fully.

I suspect that if there were no longing, no eager hope & expectation, we would indeed have staked our citizenship in the wrong land. We have far too long made earth our home, forgetting that this is our temporal plot to bring glory to our Creator.

In that reminder Christ graciously reassured that the longings will remain. This- He reminded me- is precisely why He has called us to put our hope in HIM and not in any earthly thing. No person or thing can bear the weight of my expectation. The idol will come tumbling down.

Seek Me.

Let Me fill your cup.

Enjoy the gifts I have given & the blessings at hand... but know that they are but a foretaste.