There Will Be A Better Day Coming

We try to hold on to people, places, and things with everything we have. We do our best to heal divisions within our families, resolve conflict with friends and do what we can to be a peacemaker.  We do our part to encourage others and hope others will do the same.

We pray and hope for family and friends’ physical, emotional and spiritual healing.  We hope for peace, reconciliation, and restoration in our communities and relationships.  We see the tears of disappointed people we know or just met and feel their pain. 

We hear the stories of people at the end of their rope.  They are rich and poor, young and old who are weary and undone.  Speechless. Words can’t even express their sorrow. Take this pain away God or take me home…

Hoping for a better day and a better tomorrow.

In this age of social influencers and celebrities selling immediate gratification for their benefit at our expense, it just adds to the mix of frustration, apathy, and indifference.  As Bob Dylan sang, “I used to care, but things have changed.” All this gets downright discouraging and many have become disengaged and completely isolated. COVID hasn’t helped…

In this crazy mixed-up world where wrong has become right and right has become wrong we all have one thing in common, the need for hope. What we believe about our hope directly impacts how we are experiencing our present. We are irreducibly hope-based creatures. As Christ-followers God’s Word declares that one day we will enter into a glorious rest with indescribable wonders.

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

On the one hand, we can't possibly comprehend or imagine what heaven will be like. Yet, the Bible gives us so much information about heaven that it is right for us to think about what the future holds. Revelation 21 provides some of the best and most beautiful insight into our future resting place.

We can hold on to our hope and promise that there will come a day when “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:4   Songwriter Jeremy Camp put it this way:
 
“We’ll see Jesus face to face, but until that day we’ll hold on to you always. I know the journey seems so long you feel you’re walking on your own, but there’s never been a step where you walked out all alone. Troubled soul don’t lose your heart cause joy and peace He brings and the beauty that’s in store outweighs the hurt of life’s sting.”

Are you looking forward to that day when the One you’ve lived for will wipe away all the sorrows you’ve faced or are facing now? Please know that there will be a better day ahead and until that day comes hold on to the One who is your hope now in this life and into the next.

There is a better day coming!

Instead, they (Hebrews 11) were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11:16

 

The Hope of Heaven Changes Things

The two movies Heaven is for Real and 90 Minutes in Heaven have provoked discussion about the validity of heaven. There has been some good dialogue to be sure along with some controversial ideas about heaven. I’m sure you’ve heard someone say, they’re so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good.’ In other words, their perception is that someone’s ‘pie in the sky’ spirituality makes no practical difference in this life. Yet, scripture gives us a completely different view.

Set your affections on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:2

As C.S. Lewis said, “If you read history you’ll find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were those who thought the most of the next world.”

80% of Americans believe in heaven, but does believing in heaven make any difference in our daily lives? It’s understandable if it doesn’t make any difference to someone who is unclear about going there. Yet, they don’t have to be unsettled. God wants to give us a clear assurance.

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. I John 5:11, 13

Notice that the Apostle John doesn’t say, ‘that you might or someday have eternal life,’ but assures Christ followers that they can be absolutely confidant in knowing heaven will be their ultimate home. Not because of anything we have done, but because of what Christ has already done on the cross.

When we’re confidant of heaven it replaces our anxiety with a hopeful secure future
Having an assurance of heaven can give us real hope for our future regardless of our circumstances or suffering.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure... Hebrews 6:19a

For our 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, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

The hope of heaven can help us focus our energy on the most important things
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth...but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

The treasures that will last are things that God values most. When we realize how incredibly valuable we are to God we’ll treasure our relationship with Him. We’ll point others to Him like author Max Lucado does in his children’s story ‘Just in Case You Ever Wonder.’

As you grow and change some things will stay the same. I’ll always love you. I’ll always hug you. I’ll always be right by your side. I want you to know just in case you ever wonder. Remember I’m here for you on dark nights when you hear noises in your closet you can call me. When you see monsters in the shadows you can call me.

On hard days when kids are mean and don’t treat you like they should you can come to me. If your grades are bad and your teacher is mad you can come to me because I love you. I’ll always love you. Just in case you ever wonder.

And God wants me to tell you about heaven because it’s a wonderful place.There’s no more tears there, there’s no more monsters there, there’s no more mean people there. You never have to good night or say I’m hungry. You’ll never get cold or sick or afraid. 

And In heaven you are so close to God He will hug you just like I hug you. It’s going to be wonderful. I’ll will there too, I promise. We will be there together forever. Remember that just in case you ever wonder.

May our hope of heaven not only make a significant difference in our daily lives, but also point others to Him. Now, go out there and give them heaven!

Is This All There Is?

Sayings like, ‘I thought I died and went to heaven’ have influenced our view of heaven. Polls show that 72% of Americans rate their chances of going to heaven as good to excellent. Millions believe in different versions of heaven and for the many others that believe that heaven is not an actual place then this life is as good as it’s going to get. If so, of course we’ll be disappointed—we we’re made for so much more.

If we believe that this life is our best shot at happiness, if this is as good as it gets, we will live as desperate, demanding, and eventually despairing men and women. We will place on this world a burden that it was never intended to bear. Most of us live as though this life is our only hope.

Heaven is a desire.
The Egyptians used a hundred thousand workers for forty years to build a pyramid to protect their tombs. They had an understanding they would spend a lot more time in the afterlife than they would spend in this life. They believed that the afterlife was a whole lot more important than this life and so they prepared for the afterlife during this life. The cults and religious sects have used the afterlife to develop their philosophies and and unfortunate followers.

The Bible says, ‘God has set eternity in our hearts’ (Ecclesiastes .3:11). Our longing for something beyond this life whispers to us in our disappointments and screams to us in our pain As C.S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

There is more. In the heart of every man, woman, and child is an inconsolable longing for intimacy, for beauty, and for adventure. What will heaven offer to our heart of hearts?

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9)

When I awake in Your presence there will be fullness of joy. Psalms 16:11

Heaven is a place.  Psalms  115:3; 123:1; Rev. 5:11-14
There’s a joy of having someone wave to us and save us a place in a crowded room. Jesus said. “I am going … to prepare a place for you.” When Jesus promised His followers He is saving a place in heaven especially for each of us we can be certain of our future. I John 5:13

Heaven will be a place beyond our wildest dreams – a place with no more tears, sorrow or pain, no more death – a place with perfect relationships. Take the best day of your life and multiply it by a thousand.

Heaven is our home.
Thank God this life isn’t all there is. This life is not our permanent home. This is not the end of the road.. Heaven can be your assured homeland. Maybe like me, you long for a better place. The writer of Hebrews  referred to the longings for a better home of the Old Testament believers.
              
   But they were longing, looking and waiting for a better place, a heavenly homeland.
                                                                                                                     Hebrews 11:16

But our homeland is in heaven, and we are waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from   heaven.  Philippians 3:20

Imagine being welcomed to your permanent home by Jesus. Imagine having a new body. Imagine seeing your departed loved ones. Can you imagine along with me the indescribable joy there will be when we see His face…

No more words. Sit down, close your eyes and listen and click here.