Going Home

Yesterday morning at service, Phil continued his series on The Glory of Heaven. Here are a couple points that stuck out to me:

Heaven is our home. It's where we belong. We were made for heaven. Our homes here on earth are just temporary; they're just earthly tents. I was reminded of this this past weekend when I went camping. (Hopefully I'll blog on this later.) I slept on the hard ground (argh!) in a tent that was held down by stakes. It's something that was just temporary. It was nothing fancy, and I didn't mind. I knew that I wasn't staying long, and I knew that I'd experience the comforts of home in a few days. The same goes with our time here on earth. Although we enjoy some of the niceties of our earthly homes, they are just temporary. Our time here is short, and our true home in heaven awaits, and the comforts and luxuries of heaven far outweigh our so-called "luxuries" here on earth. We shouldn't get too attached to the things we have here on earth, because we won't have them for long; they will eventually fade. Our heavenly treasures are much more greater than what we can acquire here.

We should invest in heaven. Like I mentioned before, we can get too attached to the things of this world. Yet we easily forget that God is the One who gives us all of these things. I recently heard of a need in our church, and God moved on my heart to give. But for a brief moment, the urge to hold on to what I have set in. I tried to find reason not to give. I wasn't sure how much needed. There really wasn't an announcement mentioning the need. Maybe there wasn't really a need anymore. Argh! Excuses. Just trying to find reasons to horde what God has given me. And although I know that money is pretty tight for me, God really put the burden on my heart to give, and I just had to. In the end, it really wasn't a struggle at all. And I'm not saying this to boast in myself and what a good steward I am. I'm boasting in God and am trusting in Him to meet my needs and am thankful that He is using me to meet the needs of the body.

Last one: Phil mentioned this a couple of times, and it probably could summarize what the whole message was about - live on earth but be fixed on heaven. "And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them."(Hebrews 11:15-16) We're still here on earth, and so we should live for God and serve Him while He has us here. But realize that this isn't all we have. We can look forward to heaven and to being with God. What a day that will be!