I have been blessed to travel to many places and enjoy a vast array of life experiences. Rainforests and deserts; blizzards and oppressive heat waves; big cities and vast wildernesses and on ships where all I could see were expansive waters and endless skies. I have felt the wind in my hair as I stood on the tops of mountains and in the surf at edge of ocean. In all my experiences, I have been able to see beauty and thought to myself, “I wish so-and-so was here to experience this with me!”
I have one place I want to go and I want ALL of you with me. That place is heaven. Why? Heaven is beyond comprehension. Can you even imagine a world where no one is ever sick or in pain? A place where all is joy, peace, and love? A place where no one is ever hungry, thirsty, sad, or depressed?
Revelation 21 tells us what will & won’t be in heaven.
4 – We will never again suffer with pain, sickness, or death.
8, 27 – We will never again deal with those who are contrary to God’s will because they won’t be with us.
10 – 21 – We will live in a city whose beauty is beyond anything I have seen.
22 - 23 – We will dwell forever with the Holy Creator – our Father – God and His Son – our brother – Jesus.
All of my beautiful experiences have two things in common. I had to want to go there and had to make the journey. Likewise, you must desire heaven and be willing to work for it.
Adversely, hell, the alternative, is scary (Revelation 19:20, 20:10; Psalm 11:5-6) The rich man in Luke 16:23-31 was so miserable in hell, he was begging that something extra be done to keep his family out of there.
As desperately as that rich man didn’t want his family in hell, I want you all with me in heaven.