CONSIDERING HEAVEN

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His
abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that
does not fade away, RESERVED IN HEAVEN FOR YOU, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5)

Devotion 1 of 12

INTRODUCTION

By the very nature of the case, heaven is a central consideration for the believer. Faith has made him a stranger in this world--a misfit. He is being adapted for another realm and another time. Think of the facts related to this matter. Our Father is "in heaven" (Matt 6:9). Our reward is "in heaven" (Matt 5:12). we are to lay up treasures "in heaven" (Matt 6:19). Our names are written "in heaven" (Lk 10:20; Heb 12:23). Our citizenship is "in heaven" (Phil 3:20). We have a better and enduring substance "in heaven" (Heb 10:34). Jesus has been received "up into heaven" (Mark 16:19; Lk 24:51). Jesus is now appearing in the presence of God for us--"in heaven" (Heb 9:24). Believers are waiting for God's Son to return "from heaven" (1 Thess 1:10). Jesus is now speaking "from heaven" (Heb 12:25).

There is not a solitary rebuke in Scripture for being TOO heavenly minded--no warnings about focusing to much upon heaven--no intimations that it is ever out of order to dwell upon it. That is where the blessings we require are located (Eph 1:3). It is where the our hope is found (Col 1:5,23). The church is to be heavenly minded, and heaven centered. Scripture refers to such people as "heavenly." " . . . and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly" (1 Cor 15:48). Our new bodies, reserved for us, are affirmed to be now "in heaven" (2 Cor 5:1-2).

The impact of heaven-centered thinking is remarkable. The hope of being forever with the Lord has a purifying effect upon the heart. The Word is clear on this matter. "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:2-3). The believer resolves to do whatever is necessary to enter the rest that remains for the people of God. Sin will not be there, and therefore we will not make peace with it here.

Under these conditions, heaven cannot remain a total mystery to us. If this were the case, personal purity would be hopeless, and full assurance would not be possible. No person can survive Satan's onslaught of the wicked one without a heavenly frame of spirit. Heaven is our goal! By its very nature, the subject of heaven should not be vague. Our Father is there, our Savior is there, our inheritance is there, and our citizenship is there. This condition requires that we have intelligent views of heaven. It is our homeland!

PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Christ Jesus, grant me grace to be more familiar with heaven than I am with earth.

-- TOMORROW: THE RELEVANCY AND SUPREMACY OF HEAVEN --