Saturday, February 8, 2003
Saturday, February 8, 2003
But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
We don't talk much about heaven anymore, do we? Even in the church we don't talk about
heaven as we once did. C.S. Lewis in his book, THE PROBLEM OF PAIN expressed our
dilemma like this: "We are very shy nowadays," Lewis writes, "of even mentioning heaven. We
are afraid of the jeer about 'pie in the sky' and of being told that we are trying to 'escape from the
duty of making a happy world here-and-now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere.' But either
there is 'pie in the sky' or there is not," Lewis continues. "If there is not, then Christianity is false,
for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric. If there is, then this truth, like any other, must be
faced, whether it is useful at political meetings or not."
Lewis is right, of course. Either our primary focus is on this world and its pleasures or it is on
heaven. We would like to have it both ways but we cannot. There is a choice that must be made.
(Philippians 3.20
NRSV)
It is a matter of basic orientation. Are you a person whose life is oriented toward this world, or is
your life oriented beyond this world to eternity? This is not to say that we are to turn our back on
this world. Paul is not encouraging us to move to a monastery and take a vow of poverty. But do
our values reflect a higher order of things--a divine order--a heavenly order?
Dear God, I know every morning I have a choice. May I choose to live in this world with a focus
on your heavenly kingdom. Amen.
