Brown's morning devotion 5-6-07

Good Morning.
Praise the Lord for this Lord's day. The highlight of every week for me is the day of worship and celebration. We come before the Lord God our Creator, our Redeemer and our Sustainer. We come before our Father, our Savior, and our Comforter.
We came back from Boston on Saturday, and Janice and Micah came down to be with us for a few days. We will be going back to Boston Wednesday afternoon. The surgery is scheduled for Friday, May 11, 2007, at 1.30 PM Eastern standard time. Thank you for praying fervently, faithfully trusting in the awesome power of our Lord, and standing on His unfailing promises. The Lord has given me wonderful peace and great joy. While in Boston two of our friends, from England, vacationing in Boston joined us for an evening meal and for a time of prayer.
The New testament passage for Sunday was taken from Revelation 21. Here we discover that Heaven is a place of joy. C. S. Lewis, in his "Orthodoxy" concludes, "There was someone thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth". Heaven is a place of joy because of our joyous God who is there. The Scripture clearly states that heaven will be a place where God will wipe away every tear and there will be no more crying. So often when we see scenes of heaven in the Bible there are great exclamations of joy and glorious singing. I think we often pass over the ecstasy of heaven. We see the holiness of heaven and the glory of God, but we miss the ecstatic joy. We understand that there will be no more pain and no more evil, but something in the back of our minds whispers that it might just be a little boring. Where did we get this idea that heaven was about flying around through the clouds playing harps? To tell you the truth, if that is what heaven was all about I wouldn’t be interested either. I believe there will be meaningful and purposeful activity. I believe there will be indescribable joy. When Jesus was on earth he said that his purpose in coming was, “so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). If that was his desire and purpose on earth, how much more is it his purpose in heaven. He said that there was great joy in heaven when one sinner repents (Luke 15:7). There is great joy over the repentant sinner, because there is one more person who will share in the glories of heaven. Part of the joy of heaven for God and for us is that you will be there. The Psalmist talked of the joy and pleasures in heaven when he wrote, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11). The Scripture talk of new heavens and a new earth, for the old heavens and earth have passed away. We are told of a new city coming down from heaven. I began to think about this passage that I have read so many times before and I was struck by a new thought. A city is a city only because it is filled with people — otherwise it is only a ghost town. This is not just a walled compound with streets and gates. This is a group of people. The foundations are people. The gates are people. The city is described as a “bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” And who are these people? These are the redeemed, those who have been filling the city for thousands of years and waiting for their return to the new earth, to dwell there in their new bodies. Paul wrote to the Corinthians saying, “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. "Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:50-52). I get excited when I think about what it will mean to be changed. So what is the purpose of these new bodies living in a new city? It means to live in deep, meaningful, wonderful, fulfilling relationships with other people. We will live in community with other believers and find them to be part of what makes heaven so wonderful. Gone will be the egotism, wounds, personality flaws, and misunderstandings that make relationships so difficult here. We will see as we are seen and know as we are known. Paul said, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. . . . Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:9-12). Randy Alcorn, in his book simply titled "Heaven", says, “Consider what it will be like to see the Masai of Kenya, the Dinka of Sudan, the Hmong, Athabaskans, Tibetans, Aucans, Icelanders, Macedonians, Moldovans, Moroccans, and Peruvians. Hundreds of nations, thousands of people groups, will gather to worship Christ. Many national and cultural distinctives, untouched by sin, will continue to the glory of God. The third thing I see in this passage is that Heaven takes seriously the difficulties we are facing now. The Lord said, “To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son” (Revelation 21:6-7). The Lord understands that in this present world there is a thirst for something new, a world where our longings are met and fulfilled. He understands that sometimes there are things we will face and have to overcome. This whole passage was written to give us hope, because the Lord knew we would need hope. In a world that can be difficult and unsatisfying, we need to know that there is another world coming where all our needs and deep longings will be met in ways that cannot be explained because they cannot be comprehended now. For the Bible says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). If it was not for the hope of heaven, life would be very difficult at times. However, we do not use the hope of heaven as a means to escape the difficulties of life. No, this hope is the means of facing the realities of life. Heaven is a part of the reality of life, and even though it is largely in the future, it is beginning right here and now. It is the hope of what God has for me tomorrow that enables me to face today. I really don’t know what those people do who believe that life is an accident and there is no meaning to life or our personal existence. How do you live like that, especially when it is not true? What would it be like to believe that there is not a loving God living at the center of the universe and no purpose to the things we face? What if instead of a smile at the heart of all things, there was a frown, or worse, there was only a blank stare. What would you do if you just believed that you died, rotted and that was it? Life would be very dark and joyless. When you know that this is your Father’s world, that He created it all with a grand purpose in mind, when you believe you are loved by the Creator of the universe and life has meaning, when you understand that God is in control and that he is bringing the world to a wonderful conclusion, then you face life with joy and confidence. Life has meaning, purpose and direction. Lee Elcov says, “We focus on heaven not as a respite from real life, but to gain strength for real life.” Like Spring sunshine at the end of a long, hard winter, Heaven will break like the dawn of a new day, a day of joy and celebration that we cannot at the present time begin to grasp. In John Bunyan’s "Pilgrim’s Progress", Christian and the Interpreter, in the course of their journey, come across a man with a muck rake in his hand. Steadily raking filth from the floor, the man ‘could look no way but downwards’ and so, could not see the celestial crown being offered him from above.” Like that man, we can look down at the muck, or we can look up. This is the gift that God is offering, but we have to look up to see what is being offered. We have to open our eyes to the God who seeks to embrace us and take us to his eternal reward.

Please take note: this daily devotional will be posted on my personal web page. You can visit it at www.brownnaik.com . This page has been constructed and will be maintained by my friends Larry and Mary Beth, who live in Texas, and Julie, in Oklahoma. Results from my surgery will be posted on this web page. Thank you for your prayer.

With much love,
Brown