Joy in Eternity!

Judy shared a great thought about living forever... in Joy! 

Read what she had to say...

Joy in Eternity

As most of you know, last month I celebrated a fairly significant birthday, one with an 0 on the end. I had a great time celebrating with friends and family for nearly a week including lunch at Hazelhurst, morning tea with friends and even a surprise lunch. Soon after I had a reality check when I went to visit my doctor for a check-up. When she found out that I had turned 50 I was quickly handed all sorts of forms and referrals for various screening tests. It was somewhat overwhelming to find that I now qualified for all sorts of medical checkups. Well, I thought this is a reminder that my earthly body is not going to last forever and will gradually start to show signs of wear and tear. My new stronger lens glasses are already proof of that!

So when I was given these verses to share with you today I thought this is a great message for me. The verses are from a letter written by Paul to the church at Philippi where we read

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who… will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.

Philippians 3:20.21

What a great message this is from God’s word – that when we go to heaven our bodies will be transformed into a new body. These verses tell us that our bodies will be transformed so that they will be like the glorious body of Jesus who will be waiting for us in heaven.

Now you could be thinking, well going to heaven could be a long time away. Do these verses have anything to say to me today?

Well firstly these verses gives us a great hope for the future. When we believe that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour, we can receive peace with God, right now, knowing that our sins can be forgiven. But we also are given the promise of eternal life, so that we know that our life does not end when we die, but  we can look forward to going to heaven. As our verse says we have citizenship in heaven, when we become part of God’s family. This means that we don’t need to be anxious about the future because we have the wonderful promise of eternal life.

Secondly these verses tell us that we can look forward to the joy that awaits us in heaven. If your life is like mine you go through times that are frustrating, times that are disappointing, and times when you are angry and emotional. And sometimes you go through an experience that fills you with happiness and joy. However our earthly happiness seems to come and go so quickly. I certainly experienced that when I went from enjoying all my birthday celebrations to visiting the doctor.  But when we die and go to heaven our joy will not come and go depending on the events we are dealing with, instead the Bible promises that our lives will be continually full of joy in heaven.
In Revelations, the last book of the Bible , Chapter 21 verse 4 we read:

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.

Yes heaven will be full of joy that will last forever, for all eternity. Now that’s a joy that I’m sure we all want to experience.

Are you looking forward to the joy of heaven?

I think it’s something worth thinking about.

Judy de Feyter
15. 3. 2012