I Belong Here

HeavenSome mornings I wake up with a song in my head. Most of those mornings it is clear to me that the Lord has something to share with me. This morning I awoke to a song in my head, but I had in mind to write about something else. However, the song was playing so clearly in my mind I almost thought I was listening to it on my iPhone. That’s when the Lord reminded me that this is all about Him and not me.

The song is “Heaven Song” by Phil Wickam. If you’ve never heard it I highly encourage you to download it from iTunes (yes, I’m that tech savvy!). The first stanza talks of how God has left us the Bible to learn of His promises and to be expectant of Him:

You wrote a letter and You signed your name
I read every word of it page by page
You said that You’d be coming, coming for me soon
Oh my God I’ll be ready for You

I looked at that last line and felt the Lord asking me if I would be ready for Him. I immediately answered Him, “Yes!” But He made me stop and think what it means to be ready for him. The Apostle Paul reminds us that it is indeed good to want to be in Heaven with the Lord, but it is also wonderful to be needed on earth to work for the Lord:

    “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.” (Philippians 1:21-24)

I so “desire to depart and be with Christ” because I get weary in this life and I know for sure there are greener pastures as Phil Wickam sings about in the chorus of his song:

I want to run on greener pastures
I want to dance on higher hills
I want to drink from sweeter waters
In the misty morning chill
And my soul is getting restless
For the place where I belong
I can’t wait to join the angels and sing my heaven song

I can sing that song selfishly, concentrating on my desires all the while forgetting I am needed here on earth. My love for Jesus should be matched by my love for His bride:

    “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:3-8)

Do not think that it is wrong to desire to be in heaven while still needed on earth. Unlike the human ethical dilemmas we face, this is a heavenly eternal dilemma that will one day be solved when we step into heaven. And when we do so, we can exclaim like the unicorn in C.S. Lewis’ last book in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle:

    “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here.”

Heaven is my great hope, my blessed assurance that I can one day look upon my Lord and His glory, just as Christ prayed:

    “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24)

My hope is in the Lord and my soul indeed gets restless for the place where I belong, but until Jesus calls me home let me be found faithful to His bride.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

If you’re receiving these devotionals for the first time and would like to receive them on a regular basis, please email me at jeffers221@bellsouth.net and use “Please add to Devotional List” as the subject. You can purchase Dave’s two devotional books by visiting his Amazon author page.

    Copyright © 2013 David Jeffers

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,