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Journey: Heavenly Perspective
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Journey From The Cross:
Homesick For Heaven
Morning Meditation
Read 2 Corinthians 5:1
2 Corinthians 5:1 NIV
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
Even if our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God. Enjoy the security in that promise.
Is your body getting older? Anticipate the joy of your heavenly body.
Let yourself dream about your eternal house. What do you think it will be like?
Imagine what a house built by God’s hands will look like.
Morning Prayer
Praise God for sending his son so you can have a heavenly home.
Are you discouraged? Perhaps you are homesick for heaven. Pray for a glimpse of heaven.
Tell God your joys, fears, and needs. Praise him in everything.
Pray for knowledge of God’s will for you and the power to carry that out.
Ask the Holy Spirit to interpret the scriptures you are about to read.
Morning Bible Study
Have you ever been homesick for heaven? You probably have without realizing it. We are homesick for heaven every time we are discouraged with life on earth. Read 2 Corinthians 5:2. We groan as we long for earth to be more like heaven.
2 Cor 5:2 NIV
Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,
Have you ever dreamed that you were naked in a public place? If you are like me, it was a nightmare (for me and probably for the others in my dream.) Possibly, you felt exposed, humiliated, surprised, or ashamed. Maybe you wondered why you left your home without your clothes. Maybe you spent the entire dream searching for your clothes.
Is it any wonder we feel so restless on earth? We are without our heavenly clothes. We spend much our life looking for our heavenly clothes. We feel naked to the seemingly random events of our life. We groan for heaven because we instinctively know we will not “be found naked” in heaven. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4.)
2 Cor 5:3-4 NIV
Because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.
Until we reach our heavenly home, we are doomed to groaning with the burdens of our earthly life. It helps me to identify these “groanings” as demonstrations of our homesickness for heaven.
Because of Jesus, what is mortal is “swallowed up by life.” (2 Corinthians 5:4) We can replace the tears of death with the radiance of heaven. The pain in our body becomes the anticipation of our dancing in heaven. The tragedies of our life become insignificant in comparison to the timeless perfection of life with Christ. Our mortal disappointments are swallowed up by the promise of our heavenly life.
2 Cor 5:4 NIV
For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
So how do we remember to keep a heavenly perspective the next time we feel like we are standing naked to the world? When Jesus ascended to heaven, God gave us the Spirit as a “deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 5:5) We remember our heavenly perspective by turning to our “guarantee.”
2 Corinthians 5:5 NIV
Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Application
In 1975, My husband and I adopted an abused and abandoned 6 six year old boy. My son David died of AIDS in 1996, after living a troubled and sinful life as a late teen and adult. A year before he died, David stood on a mountaintop, staring out at the churning blue waters of Maui. With the wind blowing on his face, he faced the futility of his life. On one side of the mountain, he could see the decadence happening in the secluded beach adopted by the homosexual community of Maui. He had just left that beach. On the other side, he watched innocent children splashing on the beach of a popular state park. These happy families were oblivious to the activities happening on the other side of the cliff they were swimming near.
“It was as if I could see my two choices,” he later told me. “There was sin on one side and innocence on the other.” My sweet David fell to his knees, salty tears mingling with the salt air. “God, help me,” he begged. “I have wasted my life.”
He climbed down the mountain and called me for the first time in years. “Mama, I have seen God. He has forgiven me. I am dying. My t-cell count is 0 but God has shown me where I am going. I love you and wanted you to know what had happened.”
That night, David checked into a treatment center and dealt with his alcohol and drug addiction. “I want to die sober,” he told me. We had a good year together before he went to his eternal home. One night his fever escalated and he was in pain. He called for comfort and I panicked. “Mama, you have to remember that I am going to die. I hurt but I’m not afraid. I have seen where I am going. I don’t want you to be afraid either.” David passed his heavenly perspective to me.
Are you homesick for heaven today? Is life getting you down? Are you struggling with weariness, grief, pain, or fear? Remember the cross. It points to heaven. Remember your heavenly home. Turn to your guarantee, the Holy Spirit, and let his presence give you peace.
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