What better time than Easter, the celebration of Jesus' resurrection,to focus on what it gained for us: assurance of life forever in Heaven! Today I am starting a month-long daily blog about Heaven, based on a book I recently wrote. Please continue to visit and be encouraged about God's great plan for believers.Day 1--THE REAL HOME MAKEOVER
"In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” –John 14:2
What would be your “perfect” home? Ever thought about a “makeover” for where you now live? Maybe you’d paint it a different color or have a new rug or hardwood floors installed. Don’t forget a trip to the furniture store. Altogether, maybe they’d bring you a deeper sense that this is my home.
That longing for “something better” translated into huge success for one reality television show, “Extreme Makeover—Home Edition” ®. Every week, the show’s stars made a surprise visit to the dilapidated home of a family with medical or financial challenges. They sent the family on a week’s vacation and rallied local workers to demolish the old house and build a showcase home in seven frantic days.
Imagine yourself living in some worn-out house needing an “extreme makeover.” A dirt path leads to the “bathroom.” Faded, rotting curtains hang over broken windows patched with duct tape and cardboard. Buckets catch drips from the leaky roof. The front porch sags, the foundation feeds termites, and the basement has toxic mold. The electrical outlets spit sparks, so you have to cook over a kerosene camp stove. Your mattress sags and springs poke through your worn, dirty couch. Weeds clog the yard.
Then one morning, you hear someone calling your name through a bull horn. You’ve been chosen for a home makeover! You’re told to pack your bags, enjoy a little vacation, and come back to a new home built just for you. A week later, a stretch limo returns you to the site full of loud, excited onlookers. A huge shiny bus sits between you and your surprise.
“Move that bus!” you yell on cue. The team’s big motor home groans away. Then you see your new home. It’s beyond your wildest dreams. Your hand covers your gaping mouth and your knees buckle in disbelief. A few minutes later, you run in. Moving from room to room, you’re flabbergasted by how designers prepared a décor that reflects your needs and tastes.
That’s like Heaven—or at least the best we can understand with our human limitations. It will be the ultimate “extreme makeover,” planned by One infinitely greater than an earthly “design team.” He practiced His décor on earth in the breathtaking beauty of places like Mount Rainier, Victoria Falls, the Brazilian rain forest, Norway’s fjords, and Jamaica’s sugary beaches. Better than untainted beauty, heaven means living with God. Imagine being able to see, enjoy, laugh with, talk with, and most of all worship God with all your being--forever!
But, like the earthly “makeover” show, heaven requires a demolition day of your tired, broken body.
Some try to fight that day. They’re like a crank who hears the makeover team’s greeting of hope, but growls through the thin door of his shack, “Leave me alone. I’d rather stay in this rat’s nest. It’s all I’ve ever known. I’m scared to change.”
God says we need not fear this change. His perfect love drives out any fear of facing that day (1 John 5:18). He’s eager to show us what He is making ready for us.
Once you see your new heavenly home, you’ll probably drop to your knees and declare, “Oh, my God!” Those words won’t be the careless slang heard on earth, but expressions of pure worship and thanksgiving to God, the giver of all good gifts. Everything will be perfectly suited to you. God didn’t have to guess at your likes and dislikes for preparing your heavenly home. He knows you inside and out anyway. After all, He created you!
The Bible offers tantalizing hints about what Heaven is like. But it’s mostly a “surprise package.” We have to trust the Builder who does all things well.
Maybe, as you read this, you’re ready to make that final, eternal move. Or, your loved one is weeks or days away from moving to his or her eternal home. Perhaps you’re left behind, and wondering what they’re experiencing.
If you’ve grown up with the image of Heaven as “mansions” (John 14:2, King James version), it’s time to think bigger. In the original language, Greek, in which the New Testament was written, the word is mone, meaning “abode” or “dwelling place.” Since it’s God’s dwelling place, it will abundantly overflow with riches and splendor that are far beyond the limits of human language to describe.
Ready to “move that bus” and catch a vision of your heavenly home? We’ll do that every day over the next month.
Prayer: Lord, open my heart to understand your amazing plan for Heaven. Amen.
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