Recently, I was listening to a radio DJ recount an early morning phone call he had received from his mother. Like most early morning phone calls, this one came as the result of something sorrowful that had happened. The DJ’s aunt, whose body had been riddled with polio for years, had succumbed to cancer. Days before, when talking about her impending death, his aunt described how she was looking forward to finally running again, as the polio had made her legs useless. She eagerly anticipated her glorified body that she would enjoy for eternity.
As I listened to the DJ talk, it made me realize that although Heaven is often talked about as a place of rest, it’s not a place void of activity. Most of us, I imagine, will spend our first few minutes in Heaven in a full-on sprint running to Jesus’ feet. We won’t want to waste a single moment as we get about the business of Heaven, enjoying an intimate and unimpeded relationship with our King.
And since that’s what we’ll be about for eternity, it makes sense that we should begin now. As Scripture often teaches, we should be running hard towards Christ; after all, for eternity, our focus will be on Him. In Heaven, it makes sense that we would want be as near to Him as we possibly can be, enjoying the blessings of His presence, and so we should strive for the same here on Earth. And while the intimacy we’ll experience then is far greater than anything we can experience now, the smart runner would work on closing the gap. The passionate pursuer would want to to get a jump start now on what they’ll be doing for eternity.
Why wait?
