heavenly home
"If our hopes in Christ are limited to this life only, we are the most pitiable of men." —1 Corinthians 15:19
We, as Christians, have more joy in this earthly life than those who do not believe. We love our life on this earth and rejoice in the Lord always (Phil 4:4). Only Christians can stand to be conscious for very long. The unbelievers call altering or losing consciousness "fun". That's how miserable their conscious life is.
Although earthly life is a joy, our hopes are not "limited to this life only." We are strangers and aliens in the world and look forward to going home to heaven (Eph 2:19). We are not "secular," meaning "of this world." We are a "resurrection people," moving from this world through death and resurrection into the heavenly kingdom.
"As you well know, we have our citizenship in heaven; it is from there that we eagerly await the coming of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil 3:20). "I repeat, we are full of confidence and would much rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:8). "I long to be freed from this life and to be with Christ, for that is the far better thing" (Phil 1:23). When he wrote the above verse, St. Paul was "searching for a better, a heavenly home" (Heb 11:16). In the same way, let us go home where we belong.
Prayer: Father, may I be homesick to be with You in heaven.
Promise: "The Twelve accompanied Him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and maladies." —Lk 8:1-2
Praise: In the last months of her life, Jean, a faithful editor of One Bread, One Body, was forced by poor health to move into a nursing home. She fixed her eyes on Jesus (Heb 3:1), knowing her true home was with her Beloved in heaven. Now she has gone home to be with Him forever.
Reference: (For a related teaching, order our tape Am I Going to Heaven? on audio AV 54-3 or video V-54.)
Rescript: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, February 26, 2006
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