No, We’re Not There Yet
By
Carolyn Hulliberger
“…I
am making everything new!”
Revelation
21:5b (NIV)
The day had been long,
as family funerals normally are. My husband’s grandmother had died, and our
family had gathered for the visitation. The time for a dinner break had come
and as I began to get my then-infant son ready to go to the restaurant, my
three-year-old daughter became visibly upset.
“Mommy, we can’t leave!”
she cried.
“But it’s time to go
eat,” I rationalized.
“No, we CAN’T LEAVE!!”
“But everyone is headed
out now. Why can’t we leave?” was my answer.
“We can’t leave
HEAVEN!! Great-grandma is in heaven and she’s right OVER THERE!! We can’t
leave!”
I chuckle now, but
explaining to a three-year-old that the part of Great-grandma that smiled,
hugged, and told her stories was in heaven with Jesus…and the part she could
see stayed here…well, that was a little tricky.
Jesus told us that
there is another place, one where His followers will live eternally. In John
13:36 (NIV), Jesus says, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you
will follow later.” He then states, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were
not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with
me that you also may be where I am.”
And when His apostles
asked how to get to this place, Jesus instructed, “I am the way and the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
In the book of
Revelation, we learn that there is a time and a place where “…the dwelling of
God is with men, and he will live with them…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” (Rev.
21:3-4).
Think on this just a
moment…belief in Christ…eternally living with God…a whole new order to our
world…where pain is obsolete…
Even without the
amazing details described in the rest of Revelation, being in the same place as
Jesus is a place that I long to rest in. And even a three-year-old can grasp
that once we get to be with Him in heaven and His New Kingdom, we’ll never,
ever want to leave!
GOING DEEPER:
1. Have you come
to see Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life? If not, what is holding
you back?
2. Enjoy a quiet
time today, concentrating on what it will feel like to arrive at the believer’s
final destination: in the presence of God Himself…forever.
FURTHER READING:
Along
with caring for her family, Carolyn works as an insurance representative,
serves in Oakwood Church’s Student Ministries with an awesome group of junior
high girls, and is the treasurer for Women’s Ministries.
