In
heaven there will be love that lasts. Paul
wrote that love lasts forever. Above all
things, there will be love! For God is
love, and heaven is His domain. Everlasting Love will wrap His eternal arms
around us, and so we shall be loved forever! So in the light of all of this,
the most important thing that should totally absorb our lives down here is the
practice of real love. Why? Because love
lasts. Love will be the only thing that
matters in all eternity!
Dear Friends,
Paul writes, “Love will last forever” (1 Cor. 13:8) and then
says at the end of his magnificent poem of love, “There are three things that
will endure—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love” (v.
13). It follows then, that if love will last
forever, and if forever is in heaven, then heaven must be full of a whole lot
of love!
So where is heaven?
Or rather, what is
heaven? Remember, we see only through a
glass darkly. But we can see some
images, though vaguely, in the bronze face of the mirror of time. We have words from the Scripture to help us,
even though Paul says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has
imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).
For most of us, getting to what God has prepared will
require us to “walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” as the psalmist
wrote in Psalm 23:4. Death is the last enemy! No one pretends that death itself is a
friend. The other side of death is a
fine thing, but getting there is a different matter! All of us may be forgiven for dreading the
process of dying, but we can endure the pain, looking ahead to the release of
the spirit from the body.
Some years ago I was asked to tour a hospital. We began by
looking at the gynecological ward.
Babies burped and gurgled. It was
such a happy place. At the end of the
tour, we walked through the hospice unit.
How different the atmosphere. “I
see this is your birthing wing,” I observed to my guide.
The hospital official smiled indulgently. “No, no, this is the hospice. We began in the birthing wing!”
“I beg to differ,” I replied. “This is the birthing wing! Here the spirit struggles to be born into the
afterlife, as surely as the baby struggles to be born into this life.” The official gave me a strange look, but it
led to an interesting conversation with a tour member.
So what happens when we are “birthed” into heaven? What will it be like? What shall we see?
There will be light—brilliant, glorious light emanating from
the Lamb that will light the home of God.
“The city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminated
the city, and the Lamb is its light” (Rev. 21:23).
So there will be no more night. And there will be no Office of Homeland
Security! The Bible goes on, “Its gates
never close at the end of day because there is no night” (Rev. 21:25). Because there is such light and no dark
corners in heaven, there will be no dark and secret deeds done. In fact, there will be no wrongdoing at all,
forever! This will be a city where
righteousness lives.
Because there is light forever, there will also be life
forever. Flowers will never fade; leaves
will never turn brown. There will be no
more death. Every time I go to a
funeral, I think, One day I will never
have to do this again! There will be
no need of medicine because no one will ever get sick. And there will be no more pain. Oh, won’t that be a day to look forward
to? Life, eternal life, will take care
of all these things!
There will be no more tears, for “God will wipe away all their
tears” (Rev. 7:17). What tears are these
and how can they be shed in heaven? That
is a mystery. Perhaps they will be fresh
on our cheeks as we arrive, crying, from the birthing wing into the rarefied
air of our new environment. Or maybe
they will be tears of sorrow because the family circle is broken and loved ones
are not there. Whatever those tears are
about, God will wipe them away forever.
In heaven “He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no
more death or sorrow or crying or pain.
For the old world and its evils are gone forever” (Rev. 21:4).
In heaven there will be love that lasts. For how long?
Beyond eternity. Paul wrote that
love lasts forever. Above all things,
there will be love! For God is love, and
heaven is His domain. Everlasting Love
will wrap His eternal arms around us, and so we shall be loved forever!
So in the light of all of this, the most important thing
that should totally absorb our lives down here is the practice of real love.
Why? Because love lasts. Love will be the only thing that matters in
all eternity!
Blessings,
Jill Briscoe
Executive Editor
Just Between Us Magazine
Just Between Us Magazine
That's BEAUTIFUL!
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