1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Life Audio. 2 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to have you 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 2: listening with us. Today's topic is about longing for heaven 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:21,720 Speaker 2: and why we don't do it more. We'll return with 5 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 2: the devotional after a brief message from our sponsors, Longing 6 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 2: for Heaven, written and read by Cindy McManamon. In my 7 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 2: father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, 8 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 2: would I have told you that I go to prepare 9 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 2: a place for you John fourteen to two English Standard version. 10 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 2: In the fourteenth chapter of John, Jesus told his followers 11 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 2: he was leaving them to prepare a place for them, 12 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 2: and that he would return and take them with him 13 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 2: so that they would always be with him. He called 14 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 2: this place he was preparing a mansion with many rooms, 15 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 2: And in my understanding of scripture, Jesus might have downplated 16 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 2: a little about what truly awaits us in this place 17 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 2: he's preparing for us. I wonder if we really think 18 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 2: about his promise to return, and if what awaits us 19 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 2: in heaven is really impacting our life and our longings. 20 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 2: I once heard an author and speaker say that our 21 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 2: frustration at heartache, pain and suffering, struggling to attain perfect love, 22 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:41,759 Speaker 2: and even striving for a more fulfilling relationship with God 23 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 2: is to be expected, because this life on earth is 24 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 2: not the way it was supposed to be. Our former 25 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 2: address was paradise. When my husband Hugh visited the remote 26 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 2: jungles of Papua New Guinea several years ago, he observes 27 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 2: something peculiar and wonderful about the Teri people. These tribesmen 28 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 2: in a church established years earlier by American missionaries, were 29 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 2: a people obsessed with heaven. When my husband, an American 30 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 2: man who was schooled in the knowledge of the scriptures, 31 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 2: came to speak at the little Atari church, the natives 32 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 2: bombbhearded him with questions, but not about doctrines or dispensations, 33 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 2: interpretations or translations. They wanted to know more about heaven. Lawn, 34 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:35,680 Speaker 2: the American missionary to the Ateri people, attempted to explain 35 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 2: to my husband the people's particular obsession with eternity. Because 36 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 2: the Ateri people dealt with so much suffering, saw so 37 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 2: many of their loved ones die, and had such a 38 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 2: high mortality rate there in the jungle, the life to 39 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 2: come was all they really cared about. When I heard that, 40 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 2: I thought about how that must touch our creator's heart 41 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 2: to know that somewhere in the world some of his 42 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 2: loved ones truly longed to be home. Intersecting faith in life. 43 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 2: When my husband recounted to me the Attarne's questions, my 44 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 2: heart grieved over my own contentment with this earth, to 45 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 2: the detriment of my longing for heaven. Why isn't Heaven 46 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 2: all I think about? Why do I not long more 47 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 2: to be in the presence of my Savior, to be 48 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 2: away from the pain and temporary in the often meaninglessness 49 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:30,919 Speaker 2: of this world, and to be complete and whole and 50 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 2: by His side as I was created to be. In 51 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 2: What ways have I grown too comfortable in this world 52 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 2: and forgotten my real home is in heaven? What cheap 53 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 2: substitutes for heaven have I settled for? In Colossians three, 54 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 2: verses one and two, we are instructed as followers of 55 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 2: Christ to seek the things above in heaven, where Christ is, 56 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 2: and to set our minds on things above, not on 57 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 2: things that are on earth. You six nineteen through twenty, 58 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 2: Jesus said, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on 59 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 2: earth were moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break 60 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 2: in and steel but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 61 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 2: where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do 62 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 2: not break in and steal. Those are commands and exhortations 63 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 2: to be eternally minded, to be preoccupied with heaven, and 64 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:29,600 Speaker 2: to set our hearts and our desires there, for the 65 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 2: health of our souls, for proper order of our values, 66 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 2: and for our inexplicable joy. Oh, to have a longing 67 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 2: to be with the maker of my soul, to long 68 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 2: for him as much as He longs for me. It's 69 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 2: clear to me today that my longing for heaven is 70 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:53,279 Speaker 2: directly proportionate to my longing for Christ. Lord, give me 71 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:56,320 Speaker 2: a longing for the day I will be in perfect 72 00:04:56,320 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 2: communion with You, no distractions, no other loves to steal 73 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 2: my heart away, just You and me for eternity. For 74 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 2: further study see Revelation twenty one, Verses one through four, 75 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 2: and for more on gaining a heart for heaven, see 76 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 2: my book The New Loneliness Devotional, Fifty Days to a 77 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 2: Closer Connection with God. 78 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,359 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to today's devotional. If you liked what 79 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: you heard today, we want to make sure you know 80 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: about our sister podcast your daily prayer. 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