The Glory To Come!

HeavenOn Sunday we studied John 14:1-6 together. Jesus was about to go to the Cross, and He knew the disciples were troubled. After three years of being with Jesus literally everyday, they were facing a future, that to them, seemed very uncertain. He said to them, "Don't let your hearts be troubled." Why did Jesus say that? Because He knew He was going to prepare a place for them! In Heaven! We all have trouble in this life; lots of it! There are lots of reasons why we have trouble, namely the groaning this world is under as it eagerly awaits redemption, and our own groaning as a result of our sins or others. And then there are those pesky cell phone plans! But Jesus wants our eyes on a certain future for those who love Him. Doesn’t the trouble we all go through really reveal that, not as escapism, but as part of who we are at our very fabric, we want to be "home"? CS Lewis said it this way,

“There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether in our hearts, we have ever desired anything else…It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work.”

One of my favorite songs right now that captures this is called Where I Belong, by Switchfoot. If you get a chance download the song in your pesky cell phone!

"Where I Belong"

Feeling like a refugee
Like it don't belong to me
The colors flash across the sky

This air feels strange to me
Feeling like a tragedy
I take a deep breath and close my eyes
One last time
One last time

Storms on the wasteland
Dark clouds on the plains again
We were born into the fight

But I'm not sentimental
This skin and bones is a rental
And no one makes it out alive

Until I die I'll sing these songs
On the shores of Babylon
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Where the weak are finally strong
Where the righteous right the wrongs
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Feels like we're just waiting, waiting
While our hearts are just breaking, breaking
Feels like we've been fighting against the tide

I wanna see the earth start shaking
I wanna see a generation
Finally waking up inside

Until I die I'll sing these songs
On the shores of Babylon
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

Where the weak are finally strong
Where the righteous right the wrongs
Still looking for a home
In a world where I belong

This body's not my own
This world is not my own
But I still can hear the sound
Of my heart beating out
So let's go boys, play it loud

On the final day I die
I want to hold my head up high
I want to tell You that I tried
To live it like a song

And when I reach the other side
I want to look You in the eye
And know that I've arrived
In a world where I belong
In a world where I belong
In a world where I belong

Where I belong
Where I belong

Where I belong

Where I belong

I still believe we can live forever
You and I we begin forever now
Forever now
Forever
I still believe in us together
You and I we're here together now
Together now
Forever now
Forever now
Forever now
Forever
Forever