A Heavenly Hope

As Christians we have the joy and responsibility this Advent season to take that which we were made for (heaven) to all that we meet. We get to bring heaven to those who need it.

This, however, is very hard for us because we are not trained to think of heaven. Instead, we think about Sunday afternoon naps, football, buying new electronics on Black Friday, watching the sunrise with a blanket and a cup of Joe, or eating ice cream on the beach. But heaven, well that is strange for us to think about. I guess it is because we are so removed from the notion that Jesus might actually come back – we look to meet our needs elsewhere.

If Matthew 24:36 tells us anything . . . it tells us that we as Christians should be the most concerned about heaven. For it could appear in its entirety any day.

Yet this is the problem with Western Christianity. We’ve lost sight of heaven. We don’t think about it. We don’t treat our days with the abandonment it deserves. We don’t appreciate Advent. We don’t take Jesus on his word and actually expect heaven to come to us – even though it does.

So how do we fix this?

My answer is that Christians must reclaim what it means to hope.
Christian hope is hope in Christ, hope in the return of Christ, and the need for another life. It’s a hope in heaven. Christianity does not exist without this hope.

Hope is why we usher in a kingdom. It’s why we care about partnering with God in the ongoing creation of the world. Hope is what we must carry for we don’t know when the world will end, when Jesus will come back, or when ultimate healing wins.

We don’t know the time.

So in the meantime . . . we hope. We participate. We bring heaven into the world. We give shoeboxes full of gifts. We support nonprofits. We encourage those who save women from sex trafficking or those caring about the affects Malaria has on Sub-Saharan Africa.

We go to church. 

We sing hymns. 

We read the Bible.

We pray. 

We love. 

We worship.

We tell others about Jesus.

We act as Christians should in a fallen, broken world.

We glorify.

We care.

We hope.

And it’s the hope we have in heaven that allows us to partner with God.

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