Heaven: Catching Up with Our Heart
Heaven: Catching Up with Our Heart
Some people find it difficult to think realistically about heaven.
Even Christians feel awkward working toward “eternity,” simply because, well … it seems so far away, almost unreal. Something between a Sunday School paper sketch and a half-remembered dream. Even when we try to imagine what it will be like, we come up short of a real desire to go there. Heaven is supposed to be a place, not simply a state of mind; but try as we may, it’s tough to picture it.
It’s little wonder we feel so blasé about it all. The image most people concoct about heaven is anything but appealing. Some imagine it a spooky kind of twilight zone. Others visualize it tucked behind a galaxy where birds chirp and organs play with heavy tremolo and angels bounce from cloud to cloud.
If that were a true picture of heaven, I’d be lukewarm about going there, too.
But the fact is that we believers are headed for heaven. It’s reality. Heaven may be as near as next year—or next week. So it makes good sense to spend some time here on earth thinking candid thoughts about that future reserved for us.
I admit, it’s tough to muster excitement about a place we’ve never seen. So how do we go about bringing heaven into focus?
Someone once said that Christ brings the heart to heaven first—and then He brings the person. I like that. God knows you and I would have a tough time fixing our eyes on heaven unless our heart was really involved. That’s why our Lord’s words in Matthew 6:21 rings so true: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (KJV).
In other words, if our investments are in heaven, God knows our heart’s desire will be there, too.
I’m convinced this little verse in Matthew 6 holds the secret. The only way we can enjoy the thought of heaven, the only way we can start thinking of it as reality, is to allow God to take our heart home first. Once we start investing in eternity, heaven will begin to come into focus. As we give sacrificially of our energies or money, as we spend more time in prayer, praising God rather than petitioning Him, as we witness boldly and fearlessly … we’re making deposits in eternity. We’re putting more and more of ourselves on the other side. As we continue to do these things, we’ll wake up one morning to find our heart precisely where it should be … in heaven.
Our future Home won’t seem like an eerie twilight zone. It won’t fill our thoughts with saccharine visions of bluebirds, chubby angels, and rainbows. No, it will take shape in our minds as the Real Estate it actually is, the place where God dwells, and prepares for our coming.
“Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar” (Isaiah 33:17). All the other trappings—golden streets, pearly gates, and crystal rivers—aren’t nearly as important.
What is important is that we will see our King and live with Him forever. In that shining moment we will finally catch up with our hearts—and our heart’s desire.
God Himself.
And that will be enough.