excelsior

Right now I'm really looking forward to heaven, to the end of the age, when there is no more suffering, sorrow, sin, disappointment; when all is right, and the followers of the Lamb will live in the bliss of His glorious presence; where the surpassing beauty of the new heavens and the new earth cannot even be compared to the most breathtaking sights here on this earth; where people from every tribe, tongue, language, and nation will bow before the throne, join hearts and voices and sing eternally the wondrous works of our God.  That's what I'm looking forward to.  The only fear in heaven will be an incomprehensible awe at God's wonderful attributes, specifically His mercy in allowing completer sinners such as I into His very presence.  Can you imagine?  We'll get to see Jesus face to face--to touch Him, to talk to Him and actually see His lips moving in response--to hear His voice--the voice that spoke the world, us, you and me, into existence.  Face to face with our Creator, face to face with our Redeemer, the one who suffered inconceivable agony so that we might not die, but live forever with Him.  That's what I'm looking forward to.  It'll be like seeing your best friend again after years apart, only quadrillions better.

 Is it any wonder that people who truly believe this are willing to die for it, that they don't even think twice about giving their lives for something infinitely better and longer than this transient life?  Why not? Why not live your life in light of eternity?  Live like Paul: this was his "earnest expectation and hope: that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil. 1:20,21)  Put behind the things that are holding you back in your walk with God, "forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:13,14)