Looking Forward
Have you ever looked forward to something?
Maybe it was an upcoming holiday, the arrival of a baby or maybe just getting that pair of shoes you’d waited so long to get.
When we look forward to something it changes the way we act. If you have plans for a holiday you might save up throughout the year. You might decide that you won’t buy a McDonald’s meal because it brings you closer to the amount you need for a pair of shoes. Or you might read every book on parenting you can find to prepare for the arrival of your first child.
As disciples what should we be looking forward to? I think Revelation 21 paints a great picture.
We should be looking forward to: ‘God’s dwelling place being among the people’ (Verse 3); ‘no more tears, death or mourning, crying or pain (verse 4); ‘receiving the water of life without cost’ (verse 7) and ‘a city of pure gold’ (verse 18) ‘that does not need the sun because the glory of God will shine’ (verse 23).
This sounds like the most incredible place ever! Far better than anything this world has to offer. Yet we somehow end up being so distracted by the things of this world that we rarely talk about the one to come.
How would our actions and lives change if we meditated on this new world to come? If we really believed that this life was a mere shadow.
I think we would live differently. I think that obedience to what God says would be easier if we knew what impact it would have on our eternal life.
Verses 7 and 8 show the importance of obedience, ‘those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and liars - they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.’
I don’t know about you but I want to be counted with the ‘victorious’. I want to live an obedient life that is motivated by a love for God and an anticipation for the world that is to come.
Father, please give us revelation of the wonderful new world you have for us. Would our love for you and our excitement for eternity change how we live each and everyday. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
- Thomas Milne
Maybe it was an upcoming holiday, the arrival of a baby or maybe just getting that pair of shoes you’d waited so long to get.
When we look forward to something it changes the way we act. If you have plans for a holiday you might save up throughout the year. You might decide that you won’t buy a McDonald’s meal because it brings you closer to the amount you need for a pair of shoes. Or you might read every book on parenting you can find to prepare for the arrival of your first child.
As disciples what should we be looking forward to? I think Revelation 21 paints a great picture.
We should be looking forward to: ‘God’s dwelling place being among the people’ (Verse 3); ‘no more tears, death or mourning, crying or pain (verse 4); ‘receiving the water of life without cost’ (verse 7) and ‘a city of pure gold’ (verse 18) ‘that does not need the sun because the glory of God will shine’ (verse 23).
This sounds like the most incredible place ever! Far better than anything this world has to offer. Yet we somehow end up being so distracted by the things of this world that we rarely talk about the one to come.
How would our actions and lives change if we meditated on this new world to come? If we really believed that this life was a mere shadow.
I think we would live differently. I think that obedience to what God says would be easier if we knew what impact it would have on our eternal life.
Verses 7 and 8 show the importance of obedience, ‘those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and liars - they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.’
I don’t know about you but I want to be counted with the ‘victorious’. I want to live an obedient life that is motivated by a love for God and an anticipation for the world that is to come.
Father, please give us revelation of the wonderful new world you have for us. Would our love for you and our excitement for eternity change how we live each and everyday. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
- Thomas Milne
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