Heavenly-minded

Well, this has been anything but a typical Easter season! But I do hope that your joy in the Lord is in no way diminished. I hope that your faith in Jesus is stronger than ever. And I hope that your longing for heaven and the resurrection that awaits believers in Christ grows in anticipation with each passing day.

Doesn’t this havoc on earth make you hunger for the heavenly courts of the Lord?

I’m still wondering about all the stuff going on here, but I know that the resurrection of Jesus wins the day. So rather than getting weighed down with worry over what I cannot control, I find peace and hope in setting my mind “on the things above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).

Because when I fix my eyes on Jesus and seek His face and turn my heart to heaven, these troubles below seem but light and momentary in comparison with the eternal glory that far outshines them all.

At the same time, however, we’re living in the present and I want to be sufficiently heavenly minded so that I can be of some earthly good. And I know that means doing such work as praying for one another, encouraging one another, serving one another in love, and teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. Fellow Christians, let us be found faithful to building up the body of Christ and caring for the least of these.

It also means proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of heaven, that Jesus, the Son of God, died the death we deserve on the cross for the forgiveness of sin, was buried, and was raised to life on the third day. And everyone who repents from sin and believes in Christ will not perish but have everlasting life. Friend, if you’re not trusting in Jesus for salvation, now would be a good time to believe!

And now would be a great time to pray for our leaders. I don’t know if we’re taking enough steps to curb the virus or have gone way overboard. I don’t know if this is God’s way of disciplining or judging us, or if China’s setting us up to take us over, if it’s an inside job, or it’s just an innocent virus that we’re doing our best to combat.

But I know we need to ask God to guide those who are making life-altering, globe-impacting decisions. And I know it would be wise for God’s people to “humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,” expecting the Lord “will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

And I know that because of the resurrection of Christ, death is defeated and swallowed up in victory, so I’m seeking the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, and where heaven’s looking sweeter every day.