I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 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. 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.” 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.” Revelation 21:2-5 (NIV)
Heaven is our home and earth our passage there. We are simply traveling through.Therefore, spiritual growth is are our greatest need in preparing us for our homecoming. Yet, God in His sweet mercy allows us many temporal blessings that we might enjoy and be refreshed by on our journey to our heavenly home - much like we would enjoy a vacation at the beach. But we must not remain there nor seek our true rest from there. Our joy, sufficiency and peace are to be found in Jesus for in Him and Him alone is fullness of all these precious satisfactions and He knows we need them. That is why we see so many people walking around wanting – their begging cups are never filled to overflowing because they continually are going to the wrong well to satisfy what only God can. All that is given is for our enjoyment but not for our sufficiency. That is why we see so many wealthy, famous, talented people that are miserable because there is always just one more thing they need to be content – one more award, one inch to a boat, one more dollar in an account and on and on it goes. They never get there.
We are usually uber aware of our temporal needs – much more so than our spiritual – are we not? Much akin to the Jews wandering in the desert – free from their bondage – yet complaining ferociously against God’s provisions on their way to the Promised Land. Do we not do the exact same thing on our trek towards heaven? And our sweet Savior teaches us patiently by degrees to raise our desires from the temporal to the eternal. While both needful and promised, God’s temporal earthly provisions will sustain us our brief lifetimes – and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that life is brief. Yet, His spiritual blessings all carry with them eternal blessings. We often see, think and choose so poorly. We are to be wise in the way we live and make the most of every opportunity – it matters eternally.
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. Daniel 2:21 (NIV)
Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16 (NIV)