Heaven: Our Permanent Address | HealthWealthVictory
Do you know where you come from and where you are going? This world is not our final home. Heaven is our permanent address. Here’s how we can get there.
1 After this Jesus travelled round Galilee; he could not travel round Judaea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
2 As the Jewish feast of Shelters drew near,10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, not publicly but secretly.
25 Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Isn’t this the man they want to kill?26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have recognised that he is the Christ?27 Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.’
28 Then, as Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he cried out: You know me and you know where I came from. Yet I have not come of my own accord: but he who sent me is true; You do not know him,
29 but I know him because I have my being from him and it was he who sent me.
30 They wanted to arrest him then, but because his hour had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.
Desire Heaven
The priests in today’s mass said something that really stuck to me.
In this world, be different, not indifferent.
And how are we to be different?
We must be holy. We must live holy lives.
Being holy is to be set apart for God.
And how do we become holy? It starts with desire.
If we want to be holy, we have first to desire to be holy.
Everything starts with desires. We do what we do because we desire it, good or bad.
The priest shared that he recently attended the ordination of 12 new priests. They were laid hands on by 3 bishops, one of them being the Papal Nuncio, and about 100 of them priests attending also laid hands on them.
Then afterward as they were eating and celebrating this joyous occasion, some of the priests said these 12 new priests are so fortunate they were laid hands on by 3 bishops. Surely, they said, these will become bishops in the future.
This priest bravely said NO, they should not only desire to become bishops – they must desire to become saints!
Then he goes on to ask us there in the mass, do we only desire and work for success in this world, for wealth and riches and all its trappings, for many followers on social media, for becoming powerful and famous?
But when we die, for we surely will die, what will happen to us? Where will we go?
All these things we are working so hard for, desiring so badly – all these are just passing. We can’t bring them with us.
If we haven’t spent our time here on earth, preparing for heaven, what will happen to us then?
Heaven is our permanent address. That’s where we want to go.
There’s a priest who writes in the Registry of Deaths when any of his parishioners die – change of address.
I remember my greatest desire when I was young, just starting to know the Lord:
I want to go to heaven and bring with me as many as I can.
That’s why I’m passionate about spreading the Gospel everywhere.
I think it’s the only work I can spend endless hours in and not get bored.
It’s the only work I don’t mind spending all my money on.
Hearing of people getting to know the Lord in a personal way and having their lives changed always makes me cry.
I want to create wealth so I can give more to the work of God in the world. So that people can come to know the Lord.
So how do we get to heaven?
Desire God
Heaven is not for the faint of heart.
It’s for those who have decided to be different but not indifferent.
It’s for those who have decided to follow Jesus no matter the cost.
It’s for those who are holy, living holy lives.
But it’s so hard to be holy. I want to be holy but I fall again and again.
The priest said desire to be holy. I do but I still fail.
Maybe more than desiring to be holy, more than desiring heaven, we must desire God above all.
Jesus said the same thing:
29 but I know him because I have my being from him and it was he who sent me. John 7
To know Him and have my being in Him.
To have my being in Him so that every thought, every action, everything I do, I do in Him, with Him, and through Him.
That’s how Jesus knows what He has to do here on earth, that’s how He got through all the challenges of His ministry, even the pain of the cross.
He knows God and has His Being in God.
Then everything else is moot.
Cause God is everything we’ll ever need.
Now your turn
Do you desire for something more? That’s because you are made for something more.
You are made for God.
When you desire God, He’ll reveal Himself to you. Then like Jesus, you’ll know Him and have your being in Him.
You’ll know Him, love Him, and one day, be happy with Him in heaven, our permanent address.
- Know God
- Love God
- Have your being in Him.
Dear Lord,
Help me to know You, love You, and one day, live happily with you in heaven, our permanent address. And help me bring as many with me as possible. In Jesus’ Name.
This is it for now. Till next time.
To our health, wealth, and victory – GODSPEED!
