Colossians 3:1, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.”
“To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes.” – Charles Spurgeon
There are 3 people who die every second, 180 every minute, 11,000 every hour, and 250,000 people every day that have their eternal destinies decided for them. They are headed for either Heaven or Hell. Randy Alcorn says, “The certainty of judgment, the longing for heaven, the dread of hell: these are not prominent considerations in our modern discourse about the important matters of life. But they once were.” Today we are so enthralled with the world that we forget about Heaven or Hell.
Why as believers have we become so caught up in this world when it is just a vapor in time? “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). If our lives, as Christians, are so short here on earth then we should be focusing on where we are going more then where we are currently. Or at least, one would think so.
Matthew. 6:19-21, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus tells us that we are not to store up belongings on this earth, but possessions that will last for eternity in Heaven. What would you rather have? A nice car for five years that will ultimately rust, break down, and need to be replaced, or an eternal treasure where it will never be destroyed?
There was a young man that had a truck that he loved very much. He poured his heart and soul into this truck. It was his prize possession. His wife has even said that he loved this truck more then me. On his way home after work one day he started to smell smoke and then realized that his truck was on fire. He pulled over and first tried to put the fire out with his bare hands and ended up burning them, but soon realized the fire was not going to go out and jumped out of the truck. The truck was completely destroyed. There was nothing left. The fire was so bad it even burnt down part of the hillside where he pulled off the road.
His wife was coming home from work and saw the truck on fire and pulled over and ran up to her husband and realized he was crying. First, she made sure he was alright, that he was not hurt. He said he was fine except his hands being burnt a little. She then realized he was crying because he lost his truck and not because of his hands. This is one of the few times in their lives together that she ever saw him cry, as he was a big, rough country boy. He lost his most prized treasure on earth. The item he took pride in, and poured a lot of his life into.
How about you? Do you have something in your life that if it went up in flames you would be devastated? Would you feel as if your world came crashing in if you lost that item? I am betting that we all have something if it were destroyed we would be distraught. Are we pouring more into Heaven then we do in our earthly possessions, as that is where we will be spending eternity?
Jesus tells us their will be treasure that will not be destroyed like our prized items on earth. Heaven is not a place where we will sit on a cloud and play a harp all day. We are told we will receive treasure that neither moth nor rust will destroy, which seems to be a tangible gift that we will be able to hold. Christ is going to create a “New” Heaven and Earth, so there are going to be some things familiar to us, though everything will be perfect. Which is better?
A lot of people spend more time on Earthly possessions because they do know or understand what Heaven will be like. They think Heaven will be this boring place where we sing all day long, but this is not what the Bible tells us. Let’s look at what you are supposed to be aiming for, Heaven.
To be continued. . . .
“Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.” – C.S. Lewis
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