I have a question: During the course of the day, what type of things do you think about? What are the top themes that occupy your thoughts? For me, its a wide array of things, including:
- Family (M&M)
- Church/Youth Group
- Money
- House/Yard/Projects
- Sci-Fi Stuff (Black Holes, Time/Space, Aliens, End of the World, etc...)
- Death
- Job
And there is a ton of other things I think about during the course of any given day, just as, I'm sure, you have tons of things you think about. Now, my 2nd question is this: What percentage of your thoughts are about Heaven? That can be Heaven directly, or how it relates to something else. For example: Heaven comes into my thoughts thinking about my Family, Church/Youth Group, Death, and even Sci-Fi Stuff. However, Heaven does not constitute a majority of my thoughts, and I doubt it does for most of you. But it should.
Here's what the Bible has to say:
Colossians 3:1-4 (NLT)
1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
We are told very clearly that we should "think about the things of heaven." Heaven should be on the forefront of our minds. We should be thinking about Heaven all the time, not about the things of earth. So what are the things of earth? Pretty much everything that we think about. Bills, money, job, planning, friends, family, clothes, gadgets, popularity, school, and the list goes on an on. What takes up most of our thoughts are things of this earth, but it shouldn't be this way. Heaven is such a remarkable, incredible promise for us, we should be thinking about it, thinking about the God of Heaven, thinking about ensuring others get there as well, but why?
We are also told:
Matthew 6:19-21 (HCSB)
19 “Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
This takes it one step further. Not only should the things of this earth not occupy our thoughts, they shouldn't occupy our homes, storage sheds, wallets, etc... We shouldn't be obsessed with gathering worldly possessions, whether that be money, clothes, iPods, cars, gadgets, whatever. These things aren't bad in an of themselves, but they are temporary, and when we get so obsessed with collecting these "treasures" we lose sight of our real treasure in Heaven that is not temporary, does not decay or break or fall apart, and cannot be taken from us. "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," and our hearts should not be here, but why?
Here's why:
1 Peter 2:11 (HCSB)
11 Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires that war against you.
As Christians, we are strangers, temporary residents, foreigners, aliens to this world. We don't belong here and this place is not our home. To think about it, in the course of eternity, our time spent on earth is a thousandth of a fraction of a second, too small to even think about. We will be spending eternity in Heaven with our Lord, so we shouldn't be placing too much though/energy to this world. If you think about it, when you go on vacation, you have a good time, you enjoy yourself, but you don't delude yourself into thinking that that vacation spot is your home. It is the same with us, this world is not our home, so we should not store up treasures here, we should not focus our thoughts on things of this world, and we should not engage with the things of this world that separate us from God. We should behave, think, act in such a way that we point to God, we point to Heaven, and we encourage others to take a look.
God Bless!
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