Welcome to Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast.

Episode 52. Jesus is Preparing My Room (the righteous light up the Kingdom)

Hello human. 

I believe.

I repent.

I embrace.

I proclaim.

I know.

I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for my sins, and that His Heavenly Father resurrected Him on the third day.

I repent for my sinful nature. I was born with it.

I embrace His gift of saving grace as the Savior of my soul.

I proclaim that He is Lord of my life. His faithfulness reigns.

I know He is coming back for me. I know.

Are you Bookmarking God?

 

For some people saying this out loud is hard. Uncomfortable. I get it. Saying it feels bold. It makes me sensitive to my listeners. So before I go on, if you are listening and find yourself in one of two places, and you want to talk I am here in real time:

The first place is a familiar mindset you have been living in for what could be years. It was for me. The mindset of “bookmarking God” for a better time, a simpler time, a slower paced time, an older time. For me, it was growing up knowing and believing in God as the foundation for my life, but not having a real relationship with Him, not having an intimate connection to my Savior. Yet this is pretty much all the Bible talks about:  the relationship between God and each of us. So, bookmarking God, just like bookmarking most things, has no real value. It is a justification. A stall. Something of lesser value. It just feels good to tell yourself, “this is important, so I will get back to it.” But there’s no lasting redemption in it.

The second place is if you find yourself not understanding the five affirmations I just shared or, question them. That you have not come to such a place, you do not understand it, but your heart is prompting you to lean in closer.

Whether you are “bookmarking God” or you do not know anything about God or some creative mental mix of the two, I am here for you: contact me at  deeperwater@kathrynbise.com. And if you are neither of those, but you know someone, share BUOY. Not for me, but for that person you love enough to provide access to the ONE who saves.

Jesus is Preparing a Place for You in Heaven

So, back to my affirmations: I believe, I repent, I embrace, I proclaim, all for the ending to my story:  I know He is coming back for me.

Jesus speaks of His heavenly home, His Father’s mansion of many rooms.

John 14:2-4

2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

I know that learning about heaven, embracing the joy of being in heaven will deepen my longing for His return. And that’s a good thing. I also know that the only way to cast out negative mindsets is to replace them with something good, something eternal, something God.

So today, I begin a two-episode witness about heaven’s place in my heart right now. Give me a little grace, human. I haven’t been to heaven yet, so here’s my starting place, how I would describe heaven in earthly moments.

Earthly Moments Full Up with Heavenly Love

I would always be kneading bread dough, taking fresh bread out of the oven, or fresh pastries, cookies, cakes. Checking the crumb, timing the cool down, anticipating the goodness. While having a conversation with someone about God’s nature and His love, about how who He is, is always the promise, the path, and the answer for my life. While popping open a perfectly chilled mini diet Coke, paired with my freshly baked good.  Also known as “the tasting.”

I would always be writing, kneading thoughts into connections with others. Capturing trigger notes on my phone for when I put the running script in my head on the screen in front of me, to discover more about our Creator. While bringing a bready love moment to all the beautiful people God has brought in close for an earthly run at life with me.

It’s all about the value of the moment that defines my joy on this earth.

That’s heaven, here, for me. It’s not about a big life. It’s about the fullness of the moment.

What earthly moments would you use to describe heaven? In part 2 I share a follow-up description of heaven. It’s all a beginning. After all, we are all still earthlings awhile yet.

 

What I do know is that Paul tells us to “set your hearts on things above,…”

Colossians 3:1-4

3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

That is the ending to our earthly story. And the beginning of our heavenly life.

What We Already Know About Heaven

I am starting with two basic truths about heaven that are easier to grasp because we have experienced both.

Death and the mourning of a loved one. Crying uncontrollably from a life experience. Struggling through pain, either emotional, mental or physical.

Revelation 21:4-5

4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

So the things we experience that are a struggle are results of the fall of humanity. It is the struggle that originated in Eden and continues through every birth. But heaven will be ruled by a new order. Kind of like saying this about heaven:  “we don’t do things like that around here.”

The second truth is the transformation, and I am not so sure I don’t mean, transcendence of our earthly body into a body like our Savior’s.

Philippians 3:20-21

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

This is about more than making our earthly bodies complete again. This is a promise of being like Jesus, fully spirit. Through and through.

These are two concepts that we all have direct earthly experience with… it is motivating to me to live toward a heavenly home where the grit of our earthly world has fallen away. An earthly world that is irrelevant, obsolete, expired. Not replaced with a taller skyscraper, and a larger kitchen island, or anything man can build. Or imagine.

It is a place where we live with our Creator as our Savior lives.

I can’t help but name something here that brings me spiritual pain and mental anguish:  the pursuit of truth with what feel like earthly shackles on my ankles. I know I have the Holy Spirit to guide me, but it can be overwhelming to walk amidst all the controversy, opinions and dissension we create in our pursuit of God’s Word. The confusion, distortion, and misconception of what God’s Word means, the divisions, the rude interruptions from human nature as we clamor for spiritual power amongst us … meaning well, falling short. All of us.

I fall short.

Heaven must be one divine praise song to our God, one that we all agree on. What a beautiful place to live, in the velvety folds of His truth and glory. One church body. One theological take from our Creator, God the Father, and from our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Heaven’s Lights In the Distance

The lighting in heaven must be off the charts. John tells us in Revelation that there will be no sun, no moon, no day or night. Think timeless. Eternal. God’s world. Hold that thought until episode 53.

I just needed to note this beause the righteousness we receive through Jesus provides light.

Matthew 13:43

43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

Oh, I have ears, I hear it. This verse alone prompts my heart to seek God’s nature. His righteousness.

And lo, (and behold), Jesus tells us how to pack for heaven.

Luke 12:33-34

33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The word “purse” is also translated “moneybag” so how about packing spirit-currency that does not wear out… spiritual good measure (the “measure of our faith”) from how we invest in spiritual treasures on earth. That investment is actually a process, the synthesis of our character through giving to others. It’s in the giving that our spiritual backpack begins to fill with provisions for heaven. Why? Because the righteous light up the kingdom.

The righteous light up the kingdom.

So, we seek truth, God’s word, to gain clarity, no, vision, about our destination:  heaven. And who we are waiting for to get us there—Jesus.

Starting with what we know based on our earthly journey, is really the only place we can begin. It’s the most accessible to us: the mourning, the crying, the pain, all mixed up in our relationships, our work, our day after day after day.  Our human nature, our spiritual emotional, mental battles that are never quite redeemed in our daily earth-grind. All that will be left behind.

But what will we do in heaven, what does it look like, how does God prepare us?

And what’s in your spiritual backpack? Think about this and jump on episode 53.