Let Heaven Fill Your Thoughts

Scripture: Colossians 3 (Click Link) 1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. (Colossians 3:1-4 NLT) Actually, in the everydayness of life, it’s hard to think very much about heaven. Life is busy and full and demanding and heaven seems so ethereal and distant! I know it’s real, I know it’s good, and I know heaven is my eternal home. I know heaven will be home to all the people of all the ages who have embraced, and will embrace, God’s redemptive revelation in Christ. I know heaven is going to last much longer than ‘here and now,’ but ‘here and now’ is so demanding of my time and my energy and my attention! We’re in the middle of a global pandemic called COVID-19. We’re socially distancing, wearing masks to protect each other, attending church by livestream or gathering in small groups to help prevent the spread of the virus, and we’re not getting to do a lot of things that we really love to do. Wildfires are burning up much of Oregon, Washington, and California and entire towns have been wiped out by the flames! School is starting and there’s a lot of uncertainty over the best way to do that. Where I live, it’s on-line school until it’s safer for kids, families, teachers to begin gathering in person. And then there’s bills to pay, and zoom meetings to attend, and people to see (virtually). And it’s clear things are not going to be like they were “before”! It’s easier to think about heaven when I’m at a funeral, or when someone close is ill, or when I’m facing life’s greatest challenges. I mean, I know it’ll be there when I need it! I’m betting my eternal life on it! But if I let heaven fill my thoughts, I’ll have a better attitude, make better choices, and actually do much better with the “here and now.” Prayer: Father, I think too much and too often about the things Paul cautioned us not to take so seriously, and too little and too seldom about the things that really matter. Help me to adjust my thinking priorities without having to be sick or broke or at a funeral. I purpose to quiet myself more often and let heaven fill my thoughts. May I live each day of the ‘here and now’ in the light that radiates from Heaven. Amen.