Press the arrow to listen to Hillsong sing “This is Our God” while reading today’s devotion on heaven.

Scripture
God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. Rev 21:3-4

Observation
We think about heaven, occasionally. Maybe we do on the death of a loved one and if we bump into the odd Bible verse about it. Beyond that, most humans think about the life right in front of their eyes rather than in the life to come.

On the other hand, God thinks about heaven a lot. Heaven means more to him than it does to us. There is a yearning in his heart. Since Jesus returned to heaven, preparing a place for us has been his prime objective. Once we are in heaven with he is going to live with us forever. If you want to live with someone that long you know that you really love them.

What makes heaven is first and foremost that God himself is there. Everything else takes its beauty and meaning from his presence. John defined heaven as this, “[God] will live with them….”

God’s presence defines everything in heaven.

We can see God’s presence in heaven by what is there.  Everything in heaven is superlative excellence. Gems, gold, pearls, and more. Excellence honors God for it reflects his nature best. These things are excellent not in themselves, but because God is in them.

We can see God’s presence in heaven by what is not there. Two things are missing in heaven. There is no sun and there is no temple to worship God in. The reason given is that God is the sun and the temple.

The point is this, in heaven the Lord is everything. What the Lord wants to share with us more than anything else is himself.

Application
I’ve been thinking recently that until I understand what heaven is that I cannot pray well that prayer, “Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Heaven is where God is and where he is all changes. When I grasp heaven then I can pray it down earth.

Prayer
Father, help me to long for heaven in some fraction of desire as you desire it for me. Amen.