Endurance for the Journey, Featured, Visions of Heaven
Heaven Our Home
So we are always confident, even though
we know that as long as we live in these bodies
we are not at home with the Lord.
For we live by believing and not by seeing.
Yes, we are fully confident,
and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies,
For then we will be at home with the Lord.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:6-8 (NLT)
Why did the apostle Paul get so excited whenever thoughts of heaven crowded his mind? For him it wasn’t so much the golden streets or the gleaming mansions or even the rushing water of life at the heavenly city’s center that got him excited. No, he was going home, and that meant only one thing: he’d soon be seeing his Savior.
No doubt Paul appreciated knowing something about the layout of heaven and something of its appearance, radiance and exquisite beauty. Apparently, he had seen part of it himself, for in 2 Corinthians 23:2,4, he describes being “caught up to paradise” where he “heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.” And yet when it came right down to it, all Paul ever wanted to write about was Christ. He was going home, and that meant going to see Jesus, the One who appeared to him on the Damascus road. In his mind, heaven is heaven because Jesus is there. But if I live,
I can do more fruitful work for Christ.
So I really don’t know which is better.
I’m torn between two desires:
I long to go and be with Christ,
which would be far better for me.
But for your sakes,
it is better that I continue to live.
PHILIPPIANS 1:22-24 (NLT)
On the journey with you,
Jan & Dave Dravecky
