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order to our world…where pain is obsolete…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 and
serves in Oakwood Church as a Community Group leader.
