Christians, and everyone else, have a terminal disease
called mortality. Worldwide, 11,000 people – 264,000 daily – step into either
heaven or hell as their permanent choice of habitation. Our life is a breath,
as David said. Wisdom dictates that we
consider what awaits us on the other side of this earth-life we sometimes are
so enthralled with. God uses suffering and impending death to unchain us from
earth-life and set our minds on things above... on what lies beyond the
physical. Many saints live unprepared
for death, knowing little if anything about heaven and what their life will be
like there. Those who are wise will go to the only reliable source to
investigate what’s on the other side of death awaiting them.
In 1952 Florence Chadwick attempted to be the first woman to
swim from Catalina Island to mainland California. After 15 hours she gave up
exhausted and cold. When she was pulled into the boat accompanying her she
discovered she was less than a half mile from her goal. In the misty fog lying
on the water she had been unable to see how close she was. She said later at a
news conference “I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”
As saints journeying home we need to “see the shore” see our destination...
Christ and the place He has prepared for us, the New Earth. When we can
envision the place we are going and the life we will have there, the
speed-bumps of this life will become pebbles as we draw our energy and strength
from our Lord. We need to see the shore! It has been said many times “Life is
all about the journey”, but it is likewise, in a very real sense, all about the
destination... Heaven! The journey prepares us for the destination, but the
destination defines the route we will take.
WE NEED TO SEE THE SHORE
