In Light of Eternity

Do you ever miss Eden?

I mean, I know none of us were there, but do you ever think about the time when man walked with God? Spoke with Him? Saw Him face-to-face?

We were made for His company. All the friends in the world, the best significant other, the most supportive family, none of it is effective defense against loneliness. Not when we were born with a gap that we were never made for.

At the root of it all, we all have that same sense that we don't belong. There's a disconnect between our world and our hearts, and somehow we can't seem to bridge it. When you catch a glimpse of something more, you feel it. As a culture, we're enamored with the Sun. Addicted. Something about that bright dot in the sky sets us all on fire. Do you feel it? Do you sense it? 

When I went to Italy this past summer, we woke up before the crack of dawn (literally) on our next-to-last-day in the Alps, climbed onto the soaking wet roof, huddled up on towels, and waited. And waited. Cloud-watched. Chatted a little. Hoped our cameras wouldn't die. Why? To see the sunrise!
Why on earth would we do that? (Some of us asked that question when clouds hung heavy over the spot for nearly an hour and it looked like we'd miss it.) 

Because maybe in the sunrise, we get a glimpse of something beyond us. 

I saw that same something this past weekend at Passion 2015 in Atlanta. I stood in a room full of 30,000 or so other believers and sang the words, "Like a bride waiting for her groom, we'll be a church ready for you! Every heart longing for her King, we sing. Even so, come! Lord Jesus, come!"

The thought hit me as I closed my eyes and listened. "This must be what Heaven is like."

Someday, we'll get Eden back. All of us will be together with Him, seeing Him face-to-face, singing "Holy, holy, holy!"and we'll be home. Friends, we're all homeward bound. Heaven is our home because He is our home. He gave everything so we could be reconciled to Him, not just for our souls on earth, but for eternity. He bought us a ticket home. People shy away from this because some use it as an excuse to "get saved for Hell insurance", but this is so much more. 

We strive, we fight, and we grow to get more of Him, but in the end we get all of Him. James says when we see Him we'll become like Him. This love we've been longing for, while we do experience it on earth in part, we'll receive fully in Heaven. 

So, we can make it through the hard days. In light of eternity, our greatest struggles cannot compare to what awaits us. Paul says in Romans 8:18 that "I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

This is why Jim Elliot gave his life to reach those who would become his murders. This is why he said, "He is no fool that gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." This is why Ann Judson, wife of Adoniram Judson, could say, 

"But whether I spend my days in India or America, I desire to spend them in the service of God, and be prepared to spend an eternity in his presence. O Jesus, make me live to thee, and I desire no more."

Yes, this is the hope that frees us to give our whole lives away to His mission, to give our hearts to His care and our hands to His service, to devote ourselves to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ, to say that everything is loss compared to His surpassing worth . 

Earth is just the prequel to the story of a God so beautiful none can ever comprehend it. Spoiler alert: In the end? He wins.