Heaven. What pictures pop into your mind when you read the word, heaven?
Angels, pearly gates, throne room, streets of gold, joyful reunions? And you’d have listed many of the Bible’s descriptions of heaven.1
How about ‘clouds and sky’? We may hesitate and question the location of heaven – is it really ‘up’? I mean, we have traveled into space, so we know that heaven is not literally in the sky. Maybe it’s just another dimension – beyond our understanding or awareness?
Randy Alcorn, author of the Scripture-saturated book Heaven, points to several passages in the Bible where heaven is indeed referred to as ‘up’:
- “Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, [Jesus] gave thanks and broke the loaves” (Mark 6:41).
- “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).
- “While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven” (Luke 24:51).
Jesus now rules ‘up’ in heaven, and one day He’ll descend again to earth – at long last, as the Conquering King so many in the first century hoped He’d be. The timeline of the end-of-days is highly debatable, but the result is clear. Jesus wins! We win. And in the final iteration of heaven, after it comes to earth in such a way that the old heaven and the old earth pass away, the eternal home of our Triune God and all His believers is established (Revelation 21:1).
No longer “on earth as it is in heaven” – just earth and heaven as one. Brand new. With God.
Whether it’s ‘up’ or not, heaven is where our citizenship lies (Philippians 3:20). Eternity is where our hope is placed (1 Corinthians 15:19; Romans 6:23). And when we can live with our minds “set on things above” (Colossians 3:2), our lives here on earth in the here-and-now will mean great things for us and the Kingdom of God. Perhaps we could say eternity is God’s ultimate agenda.
Orbits and What-Ifs
We opened this series establishing the reality of our human tendency to live in “the gravitational pull of self.”2 I even adapted what I thought to be a most clever graphic for social media to illustrate how easy it is to place ourselves at the center of our little universes, expecting everyone else to orbit around us:
Well, there is a better orbit – the one where we lay down our personal, hidden agendas and live for God’s, where we place God at the center. At this point we nod in logical agreement. After all, it makes sense to put God at the center. He is Creator. And Father.
But, what if it’s even more specific than that? What if it’s God’s LOVE at the center?
If that’s true, then what happens if our understanding of God’s love falls so short of reality that we don’t really ‘get’ this image of God’s LOVE being the sun – the center of everything?
What if we think of God’s love as…
- Something He has to do – like a good parent.
- A feeling that ebbs and flows based on His mood.
- Dependent on our behavior.
- Something to “salute as an amazing ideal.”3
- Something possible but not practical.3
For a lot of his life, this is how JD Walt felt about God’s love. He lived thinking of God’s love as the moon – he knew it was constantly there but rarely took the time to notice it. The moon revolved around him while he revolved around the sun of all his life’s to-do’s.3
But, as he is learning, “Love is the Sun. The love of God in Jesus Christ is the white hot blazing Sun of all reality.”3 God’s love is not peripheral, and it doesn’t orbit us. Rather, it’s the central gravitational pull for every single thing God has created.
We need a reset, a realignment so that we can more fully embrace that God’s love is actually everything Paul describes:
“[God’s] love is patient, [God’s] love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [God’s] love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, additions mine
All of our fallible, broken assumptions about God’s love are based on our fallible, broken experiences here on earth. But God’s love is pure and perfect. It’s holy and whole. There’s no conditions to it. And because God is unchanging, His love is unwavering.
When we ‘get’ this about God’s love, we are better able to receive it. Trust it. And willingly live in its gravitational pull.
But, here’s the kicker. God doesn’t just love us. He likes us.4 That reality can shape the way we love ourselves – and, ultimately how we love others:
“Our love for others will never exceed our love for ourselves, and our love for ourselves will never exceed our awareness and experience of God’s love for us.”
JD Walt4
When we begin to see God’s love as the Sun, love becomes our power, our “organizing center,” and the “core principle of all order.”3 Just as the actual sun is our light and life source, so is God’s love. And when we align our little universes to orbit around God’s love, all our “motives of the heart” that are “hidden in darkness” will be brought into the light (1 Corinthians 4:5) – not to be condemned but so we can be set FREE!
Because. God’s love is light. And life. It’s the center of all we are and can be. It’s what surrounds us and hems us in. God’s love is the key to unlocking all fear, doubt, insecurity, and every other chain that holds us captive in the dark.
Friends, to live our ‘now’ lives in such an orbit of pure and holy love means that we will live our lives as Paul prayed – overflowing in love, growing in knowledge and understanding, and living pure and blameless “until the day of Christ’s return” (Philippians 1:9-10 NLT). This way of living, I’m beginning to grasp, is what it means to live from eternity now. And it all rests on God’s love.
Secure in Love
To read Paul’s letters is to know a man who understands that God’s love changes everything. It’s why he speaks of this agape so often – because when we receive the love God offers, we are transformed. Where selfishness once dwelled, now compassion and kindness exist; where pride once ruled, humility now reigns; where greed once motivated, gentleness and patience now move us (Colossians 3:12).
As holy and dearly loved ones who embrace and embody the love we’ve been given, we “bear with each other and forgive one another” (v.13). And when we carry this love of God that has shaped us, we become bound together with other believers in perfect unity (v.14).
Living from such love means living secure in that love. So, instead of worrying about what the unknown future holds, we rest, trusting God’s love will see us through no matter what. Instead of letting fear push us to live from scarcity, we extend the hand of hospitality and generosity. Instead of moving through this world seeking approval and accolades, we “elevate Him and not ourselves.”5
Friends, we are not able to love others well if we don’t first accept the abundant love of our Heavenly Father. Striving in our own strength and from our own agendas falls short of living for God’s Kingdom in the here-and-now. It’s only by and through the love of God that we find healing and wholeness. It’s only from this secure “place of being perfected in His love for us that we are set free to love others well.”5
Hidden Agendas
This series has had us digging some deep wells. When we talk about – and actually do – the work of peeling back the layers of our lives, we find that we carry within ourselves the motives of the selfish, impure kind.
It’s why we need a Savior.
And our Savior is not one to denounce us for all our hidden agendas. No, He comes to us in love and grace, inviting us to name those motives and leave them behind. Inviting us to see what His agendas are and to step into them wholeheartedly.
When we live from an awareness of the effects of all our hidden agendas, we recognize our need for all Jesus offers. It humbles us in the naming. It empowers us in the receiving. And, little by little, we are changed, becoming the Kingdom people God desires and delights in.
If you’re here, sticking it out to the end, I pray that you’ve been as convicted as I have – that we have layers of hurt and misunderstanding that need healing and aligning. I pray that you are as moved as I am to stick with Jesus everyday, trusting in His presence and purposes – to stick with God, believing in His unceasing love. To stick with the Spirit, living from His power and by His guidance.
May we become people who no longer orbit around ourselves but around God’s great love.
May we live from that love, trusting in its power in us – and through us.
May we choose to live for God’s glory and pleasure alone.5
May we trust that all God is doing in us is all we need to keep revealing Christ to others.5
May we live with our hearts and minds focused on heavenly things above.
May we believe that living from the Kingdom agenda is the best agenda. For us and the world.
And, may we choose to live as Kingdom people who live from eternity now, secure in our place in God’s heart, as well as our home to come.
Father God, we marvel at the way You love us. We long to grasp how wide and long and high and deep your love is because we’re seeing the goodness of it and the power in it. And while the fullness of your love surpasses all our knowing, we still seek to know it better. We desire to be filled with the measure of all the fullness of You so that we can build your Kingdom in full faith, secure in your love. Lord Jesus, we thank You for embodying the love of the Father as You stepped onto the soil of this planet You created. We’re grateful for every word You spoke, each act of healing You performed, and all the love You shared – and we ask that You would help us believe that You are still speaking, healing, and loving us today. Help us to embody your love, modeling You in all we say and do. Holy Spirit, how we need You. Just as we desire to put God and His love at the center of our lives, we know that it’s only by your presence and power in us that we can enter into such an orbit of order and hope, peace and joy. So, we choose to stick with You, believing that in Christ You keep everyone who trusts in God in perfect peace. We believe that when our thoughts are fixed on Christ, our trust in Him is established – He is our eternal Rock. In Him we choose to lay down all our impure, self-focused agendas and to live with Him, in Him, and for Him. We choose to live from eternity now, placing all our hope in the One who loves us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
(inspired by Ephesians 3:17-19; 1 John 4:9-10; Isaiah 55;11; 1 Peter 2:24; John 15:12; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Isaiah 26:3-4; Colossians 3:2; Proverbs 3;5-6; Psalm 147:11)
Well, that’s a wrap for our spring series, Hidden Agendas. And yet, I’m certain will carry with us lessons learned and questions that still seek answers as we step into our summer series: Hidden Treasures. Each week we’ll dig into a treasure of truth, uncovering some deeper understandings, such as why Scripture describes God as ‘hiding His face’, what ‘hiddenness’ might mean, and how we can cease our struggle with trying to live in our own strength. Actually, that last one hits me right where I am, so I’m praying God will do some actual revealing. 😉
Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.
- 1 – Randy Alcorn is one of our generation’s most well-studied experts on heaven as described in the Bible. He has a book, called Heaven.^ And a website full of videos and articles with all kinds of teachings on heaven, including this article.
- 2 – JD Walt, ”Praying Like Jesus” Course from Seedbed, Spring 2024
- 3 – JD Walt, The Daily Text, 8/7/17
- 4 – JD Walt, The Daily Text, 8/4/17
- 5 – Aimee Walker’s Enough mini-study on Colossians, at The Devoted Collective.
- Bristol House’s song, “Hidden,” has been tucked into playlist, “Hidden Agendas,” AGAIN! 🙂 Not only have I had incredible personal connection with this song, but its lyrics are so rich and broad in scale that this song fits every theme we’ve hit thus far in 2024. Hear this verse:
I am Your beloved
Whom You’ve created
Lord keep me hidden, hidden in You
Hidden in Christ evokes a similar imagery as living in His orbit! And, then, the final verse — it brings out the theme of living for His kingdom, from eternity. Friends, we are His army:
Let a hidden generation
Carry fire to the nations
King Jesus our Salvation
Raise an army
Let a faceless generation
Go to every tribe and nation
King Jesus our Salvation
Raise an army, raise an army - On this week’s “Teacup Video” I will talk a little more about what ‘Kingdom living now’ looks like and how we can train ourselves to live more like Jesus by asking “What is the Father doing?” There are all sorts of ways to keep our minds focused on things above!! You can find all the videos on my Facebook Author Page and Instagram — and…my YouTube ‘channel’!
- In the first week of each month, I release a new edition of my newsletter, The Abiding Life. It’s a less public space to process what I, what we are learning on this journey with Christ. You can subscribe here.
Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but also be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is one way to aid us in our desire to become more Christlike. And, while this is the last post for this series, I pray that the rhythm of repentance goes with us into the next and into all our futures.
Isaiah reminds us, “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength'” (26:15). Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase says it this way:
“Your salvation requires you to turn back to me
and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.
Your strength will come from settling down
in complete dependence on me.” Isaiah 26:15 MSG
Repentance is that turning back to God. It’s ceasing all our striving in our own strength — all our silly efforts to save ourselves. When we settle down in the presence of God, we can settle down with trust in Him. We can learn to depend on Him.
- This week, let’s practice this turning back to God. Every time we feel anxiety rise, doubt creeping in, or self-striving taking over, let’s simply and most ardently turn back to God, lifting our faces ‘up’ to Him, aligning our hearts and minds with Him. And breathe. And believe. There’s a great little prayer from Lectio 365 that I just love repeating:
“As I become aware of Your presence in this place and time, open my eyes to perceive You, realign my mind to believe You, and reawaken my heart to receive You, now and throughout the day to come.” - And while it’s not a spiritual practice or rhythm, I invite you to share this site. Summer is a great time to ask someone else to join us here — it is a shared journey of faith, for sure!
Featured Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash. “All the Bits and Pieces” photo by Sahand Babali on Unsplash.