Thinking about heaven this morning as an “earthly pilgrim” – my “heavenly home” one day, not far off… Going to be amazing!
I read these wonderful words about heaven from 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 this morning during my time of “Coffee with the Lord”…
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling… so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.”
So “this old tent” has some years on it… Some aches and pains, got to take a medication or two to deal with some physical issues, knees ache a little from yesterday’s run, wear glasses to read my Bible… Don’t know how you feel today… But enough talk about “the old tent!” Praise the Lord, I’m looking forward to “the building from God – a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens – my heavenly dwelling!” In the meantime? Because of Jesus I have “good courage!” Gonna, “walk by faith, not by sight!” And my aim? “to please Him!”
How does the old gospel song put it?
“My Father is rich in houses and lands,
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, He has riches untold.
“A tent or a cottage, why should I care?
They’re building a palace for me over there;
Though exiled from home, yet still may I sing:
All glory to God, I’m a child of the King.
Refrain
“I’m a child of the King,
A child of the King:
With Jesus my Savior,
I’m a child of the King!”
–Harriet E. Buell, 1877
Yup, thinking about heaven – my heavenly home – this morning!
Oh the power of the Gospel to transform lives! Right now, a flood of names are running through my mind, lives that have been revolutionized – dramatically changed – through the message of the Gospel! One such name I was reminded of this morning was my own grandfather, Ephraim Robert Bartel, a German immigrant, known for being “a hard man” – hard, mean, demanding to his wife, his children and others who knew him. I’ve heard the stories – my father shared some of them with me, there were rumors in our community, my aunt struggled to forgive him… But one day he responded to the gospel and my pastor as a boy, Leon Mitchell, testified, “I’ve never seen such a dramatic change in a person’s life!” From “hard” to tender, from scowling and frightening to children to kind and generous with them! What a change! (See the picture of Ronan Assembly of God with Grandpa Bartel, after his conversion, circled… There are some Bartel boys in the picture too. :-))
