Heaven on Earth?

"Heaven's Garden" by Marina Petro marinapetro.blogspot.com

I have heard some Christians say that they don’t need to wait for heavenly glory, that with Jesus, earthly life is sweet enough.

Well, to be honest, I’m not there yet.

Maybe it’s because I’m not the best Christian in the world (I freely admit that I’m not) but I don’t find earthly life to be sweet. With Jesus I’d say it’s just bearable. Without Him, I can’t imagine.

Sometimes this life is just so incredibly wearying I can’t stand it.

Now before you call the Crisis Center on me, let me just say I am not slashing my wrists or anything. I’m just saying that this world is not heaven.

Whatever Belinda Carlisle might have sung back in the 80’s, heaven is NOT a place on earth.

(image from wikia.com)

My devotional from “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young for today read as follows:

“Do not long for the absence of problems in your life.

That is an unrealistic goal, since in this world you

will have trouble. You have an eternity of problem-free

living reserved for you in heaven. Rejoice in that

inheritance, which no one can take away from you,

but do not seek your heaven on earth.”

I found this encouraging, because the truth is, I really have been longing for a problem-free life.

I mean, aren’t we all?

(image from clipartof.com)
Isn’t that the basis for every advertisement and infomercial there is, a promise to eliminate our problems?


It‘s a cheerful smiling voice saying, “Do you suffer from blank? Well try new blank and all your troubles are over!”

But that’s not what Jesus promised us.


He said, “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33)

But the verse doesn’t stop there.

“But take heart!” He adds. “I have overcome the world.”

So when we’re looking for Jesus to take away all our problems, we’re looking for the wrong thing.

We're looking for heaven on earth, when we should be looking for Jesus Himself instead.