The things of this world are ever demanding our constant attention. For the last few months, I’ve been losing my grip on everything in my life. The mailbox is filling up, the refrigerator is emptying out, I’m sleeping funny, eating worse, I’m not working, and spend most days, all day, in my recliner, watching TV. It would be fair to say that for the last few months, I have accomplished nothing. Let alone kept up with the things of this world.
It would also be fair to say that the only thing these months have accomplished is making me long desperately for heaven.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
The things which I can see are all the days I should have been working and couldn’t. I see all the tasks that aren’t getting done. I see how bad my diet is, my schedule, my total lack of exercise, sunlight, and fresh air, and all I can see are all the things I’m losing my grip on. But something better is getting a grip on my heart. When heaven happens, all that stuff will be gone and forgotten anyway, but how my heart feels about my home will matter. And these last few months, my heart has changed its permanent address to heaven. This world doesn’t hold my attention, my affection, my heart. Heaven does. So while I don’t suggest we intentionally let our world fall apart around our ears, anything that happens here is light and momentary. Heaven is forever, and three months spent preparing my heart for heaven’s home may, despite all appearances, be the best three months I’ve ever spent.