20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
“Our duty as Christians is always to keep heaven in our eye and earth under our feet.” Matthew Henry
God desires for us as believers to set our sights on heaven where our citizenship lies rather than to waste our lives wantonly wishing for worldly wants – as if they could ever fully satisfy our inmost longings. Indeed, God wants His children to long for their heavenly home - eagerly awaiting our Savior from there.
Believers now have a dual existence – we are in Christ yet we are also in this world. When we are in union with Jesus, He supplies His disciples with peace and nothing, Scripture states, can make them stumble. Yet, we are so conditioned to yearn for what our eyes can see and what our hands can touch that we can easily become consumed with the temporal things of this world which ultimately (and often constantly) rob us of our peace and joy.
The Lord calls our hearts and our focus away from the love of the world with all its sin and its fullness of brokenness, labor, heavy burdens, sorrow and death. He desires for us to fix our eyes on the eternal, on His kingdom coming. Presently, we suffer grief in all kinds of trials. This is something all humans have in common – no one is immune because we live in a fallen world. Until Jesus returns, it will always be so. Jesus tells us:
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)
“A Christian, being only a traveler through the world, must expect a traveller’s fare; bad roads sometimes, bad weather, and bad accommodations; but since his journey’s end and city are in heaven, all his actions, sufferings, prayers, trade, and conversation turn that way. O Lord, grant that mine eyes may always be fixed upon this mark, so as to regulate all my designs and doings accordingly; asking myself in everything, whether it be fit for heaven, and agreeable to the mind of the heavenly Bridegroom, and to the manners of the heavenly citizens.” K. H. Von Bogatzky
The wonderful promise of Scripture is that this world and all its evil will one day pass away. Peter writes:
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. 2 Peter 3:10-13 (NIV)
“If you do not wish for His kingdom, don’t pray for it. But if you do, you must do more than pray; you must work for it.” John Ruskin
We get a glimmer into the glorious description of the new heaven and new earth found in Revelation which should whet our appetites:
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Rev 21:1-5 (NIV)
“Most of us find it very difficult to want ‘Heaven’ at all – except in so far as ‘Heaven’ means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained: our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognize it. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.” C.S. Lewis