Each one of us is on a journey to our final, and eternal, destination.  As Christians, we live with the confident assurance that our eternal home is with God.  But, we’re not home yet and there is a life to be lived as we journey toward heaven.  It is my prayer that this series of devotions will help you discover not only a glimpse of heaven, but that it would prepare you to more fully live like you are home even as you continue the journey.

This is day twenty from the devotional journal, “Almost Heaven: Devotions For the Journey Home”.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God in the process of discovering how He would have us to live as we prepare for an eternal home.

Almost Heaven:
A Home With Permanence

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.“
1 Peter 1:3-5 (NIV)

What things have impressed you the most by how long they have lasted?  What things have been the greatest disappointment by not lasting as you thought they should have?  Have you ever headed somewhere with eager anticipation only to find out at your destination that the place no longer exists?  How did you feel?  How important is a sense of permanence in making you feel like you belong somewhere?

As a child, I never once worried about going home from school and not having a home to go to.  While I realize now that the possibility existed for something to happen to it, I grew up with the security of having a home I believed to be permanent.  Because of God’s nature, I am assured that the heavenly home I am headed towards has a permanence that nothing can destroy.  The hope I have on my journey to that home cannot be tarnished or diminished because I am confident my home will always be there.  As you pray, ask God to fill you with the confidence of having a home that cannot be shaken.  Pray that you would live life boldly, knowing that you are headed to a home of permanence.

In prayer,

Tom