But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. Philippians 3:20 NLT
Many, perhaps most of us, live from day to day with hardly ever a thought of heaven unless there’s been a recent death, our health is struggling, or we are discouraged. Paul thought of heaven constantly and found it to be a strength for his life. Paul reminds us that it’s not that one day we will be citizens of heaven – we are citizens right now! The Lord Jesus is already there! It should be a regular cause for encouragement, comfort, and joy. For me, I always believed in heaven and looked forward to it in an abstract way that did not affect my everyday life at all until my sister, my lifelong best friend, died suddenly ten years ago. I instantly developed a hunger to know more about the place where she was. My husband’s promotion to heaven about four years later heightened my passion, and since that time, my focus on heaven has been a driving force for life and provides the encouragement and strength to persevere with joy through the major storms of life and the ordinary days too.
Why don’t we regularly think of heaven? Well, first and most understandably is that we think of heaven as a location we go to someday instead of our forever home that starts being ours the moment we come into relationship with Christ. Today we are citizens of heaven, and we have access to all the “spiritual blessings in heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3) right now. We are RIGHT NOW living in the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son Jesus, no longer part of the kingdom of darkness.
Second, we have unrealistic, unbiblical views of heaven and the afterlife, shaped by people’s dreams, television shows and movies, and completely uninformed opinions. Make sure you base your opinions on what God’s Word has to say and read books from a solid biblical perspective. Randy Alcorn’s Heaven, Joni Eareckson Tada’s Heaven: Your Real Home from a Higher Perspective, Ray Ortlund’s Heavenward: How Eternity Can Change Your Life on Earth, and John Burke’s Imagine Heaven are all good resources.
Third, Ray Ortlund, pastor, author, and theologian, says we reduce heaven to an abstract transaction. Jesus died for our sins, we repent and accept salvation, and then we go to heaven when we die. But what makes heaven, heaven is Jesus. We’ll experience unhindered communion with Him there. We’ll behold Him and talk with Him face-to-face. When we are deeply connected to Jesus daily, our God-given imagination can make being with Him in His now and forever Kingdom very real and attractive. It will change our lives and perspectives in discernable ways.
- God, help me to live with You so clearly that I experience heaven here and now.