In My Father's House

Mansions in the sky. 

Really?

Is that what you are looking forward to?

Jesus said:

"In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

The word translated here as "mansions" in John 14:2, in the original Greek language literally means, "stayings" or "residence."

Jesus, who created the heavens, the universe, and everything in it, has prepared a place for us to dwell with Him in Heaven.  It will be our eternal abode.  But I don't think it will resemble anything like the southern mansion in "Gone With The Wind."  And unlike what I heard some 'charismaniac' say once, that he was supposedly given a 'vision' of his mansion in Heaven and in it he saw "Georgian mouldings" and furnishings, I think our abode with Christ will be unlike anything in our wildest imagination.  Whatever awaits us, it will be glorious.

A Georgian mansion?

Really?

How sad.

Personally, I am not concerned about what the eternal building that I will reside in may look like.  That is so not my focus or desire.

What I am most looking forward to in my eternal abode with Jesus Christ—is being there—with Him. 

Because in His presence, there will be no more death, sickness, sorrow or tears.

But even more than that, there will be no more loneliness.  No more sense of failure.  No more feeling ashamed.  No more rejection. No more descent into madness.  No more frustration. No more hopelessness.  No more boredom. No more failed relationships.  No more division or disagreements. No more fighting or wars. No more feeling unfulfilled, discontent or useless.

It will be a place of perfect peace—because Jesus is our peace.

I can't wait to be there, with my Lord.

For me, the absolute hope and assurance that the sense of failure, loneliness and unfulfillment that I currently feel will vanish forever, helps me focus my heart on Jesus and my eternal abode with Him, and less and less on my current situation here in this fallen, sick, mad world.

Sadly, many of us are completely enslaved to the day-to-day cares of life in the here-and-now.

The pursuits and worries of this temporary life—our finances, career and material possessions—consume our every waking thought, and cause us many a sleepless night. 

This ought not to be.

Jesus said: "Why do you worry about all this?"

God has a purpose for allowing us to go through intense seasons of trials and suffering—to prepare us for eternity. 

Our trials and suffering should humble us, and bring us to the place where we choose to thank God for the difficult times in our lives—so that we as sinners will see our desperate need for Him daily, and see His great love for us.

Enduring hardship also causes us to have compassion on other people who are suffering, and through our own suffering—as God comforts us—we, in turn, can comfort others with the same comfort that we received from God.

Finally, God allows us to endure suffering that we will not stay firmly entrenched in this present world.  The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote (chapter 3, verse 11):

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." 

"Here we have no continuing city", states the writer of Hebrews, but "We seek the one to come."

We are just sojourners, or aliens, in this fallen word.  We're just passing through.  This is not where we are meant to remain.  This is not our Home.

Eternity is what God has placed in our hearts.  Our longing should be for Him and to be with Him in the place that He has prepared for us.

Jesus said:

"I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

Ultimately, our destiny and eternal abode is with Jesus—in the place He went to prepare for us—in His Father's House. In the Father's House, there will be room for us. A staying. A dwelling place. It's what we were created for—to spend forever with Jesus.

So, please don't allow yourself stay entrenched and enslaved to the things and places of this world that are perishing.  We are not long on this earth.

Our true Home awaits us.

Revelation 21:3-5

"And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”

And He said to me,“Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

   -Amen.

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.