Skip to main content

Who Do You Want To See?

 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  (Psalm 73:25-26)

But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” (II Samuel 12:23)

          Some people like to post question on social media like, “Who will be the first person you look for in heaven?” And while I have a list of people I’d like to see, and a bigger list of people I’d like to meet, there are verses like Psalm 73:25-26, which came up as the verse of the day on Biblegateway.com. Part of me looks at the part of me with the list and says, “Hey! Heaven is about God!”

          Most people would probably say, “Well, yeah. Of course, God, but He’s a given who doesn’t need to be mentioned.” They might quote II Samuel 12:23 as their justification. David clearly considered meeting his son in heaven. So it’s OK to look forward to God and the people who have gone before us.

          I agree. But I think the point is that our longing for heaven should be a LONGING FOR GOD and a longing for those who have gone before. If we love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths, we shouldn’t fail to mention Him because He’s a given. He is our first, second, third, and fourth through ninety-nineth reason for heaven. All those who have gone before that we want to be with are reason 100.

            This may be coming to mind in part because I’m starting to wind things down at Hillcrest and starting to think about Erie. Shifting between the two tends to unsettle me. It’s like I’m coming up to New Year’s Day or my birthday and have to set goals for the coming year – but it’s only 6 months long (and only a month between when I get home and when I need to have my goals set for my near year in terms of age.) One of the issues that tends to rear its ugly head when I am preparing for shifts is how much a failure I am in terms of my relationship with God, in terms of my relationship with other people, etc. And, of course, that means troubles with definitions.

            Do I really love God? Do I actually trust Him? Am I being obedient? A song that is coming to mind often lately is Jesus Take Me As I Am. But as much as it seems to be my song at the moment, it doesn’t mean that I -or we – should kick back and make it a command. It’s a plea.

            And so my prayer is that God will reveal Himself in a way that causes me to fall in love with Him, even if I don’t identify it as falling in love, and in a way that causes me to trust Him even if I don’t see it. I long to look at going to heaven as being all about God, and, oh yeah, those other folks, instead of those other folks and oh, yeah, God. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more