I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. Phil. 1:23 (NLT)
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. Rom. 8:18-19 (NIV)
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. 2 Cor. 4:17 (ESV)
Lord Jesus, when I slow down enough to ponder your beauty and the riches of heaven, everything else shrinks to its proper proportion. Big deals become little deals. “What if’s” and “if only’s” lose their power. People get small, and you get big.
The deepest desires you’ve written into our DNA, our most intense longings for rich relationships and unbroken intimacy, this unrelenting thirst for a stress-less, mess-less, harm-less world… they’re all going to find their fulfillment in the life to come. Jesus, thank you for earning heaven for us, and for keeping us for heaven.
I agree with the Apostle Paul. It would be better by far to depart and be with you right now. Adoration, not depression, fuels my longing, Jesus. For you make heaven “heavenly.” I’m ready to no longer see you in part, know you in part, love you in part, believe you in part, or trust you in part. When we finally see you as you are, Jesus, we’ll cease being as we are; and that’s an awesome hope. We will be made perfect in love. We will be like you, Jesus.
No one and nothing else can fill the void, ease the ache, or satisfy this longing we have for you. Bring us back quickly to gospel-sanity, when our “light and momentary afflictions” feel unbearable and unending. Rescue us when our math fails us, and we no longer consider the glory to be revealed in us to be greater than the brokenness in us and in our world.
May your worship quiet our whining, your mercy still our murmuring, and your grace focus our groaning. So very Amen we pray, in your lovely and trustworthy name.