Skip to main content

Made for An Eternity

 As a person who grew up in the church, I’ve heard about Heaven my entire life. As a 5 year old I could have told you that Heaven is where we go when we die. I could have probably even told you that it meant we go to be with God forever. I pictured mansions, a table with lots and lots of food (thanks Audio Adrenaline), and baby cherubim floating around (spoiler alert: it will be much greater than my 5 year old fantasy). To be quite frank, as a child, Heaven mostly felt like a “get out of jail free” card because I was mostly just afraid of going to Hell. Heaven, on the other hand, was such an abstract thought that it didn’t really excite me. 


The concept of eternity can be scary to think about because our human experience has no category for such a thing. I’ve heard it often said that as Christians we should always be looking towards eternity. C.S. Lewis famously said “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.”


Here’s the thing: I don’t find myself looking towards eternity all that often. I love looking towards the things I have to celebrate in this life. There are always birthdays, trips, babies, weddings, holidays, and so many other things that give me momentary joy that I can look forward to. I’m not saying these aren’t great things, they are! However, when I compare these earthly joys to the joy we will experience in eternity with The Father if we belong to Him, the two don’t even fit in the same category. We read in Revelation that “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” That promise feels both foreign and familiar. It feels foreign because after only 30 years in this world I can’t picture a life without those realities. At the same time though, it feels familiar because it’s what I’m made for- I am made for an eternity where I get to enjoy my Heavenly Father forever. 


After the past year, what a relief it is to be reminded that this isn’t all that there is. Can you picture it? No more tears over racial injustice. No more death from global pandemics. No more political tensions, lost jobs, loneliness, divorce, cancer, depression, infertility, or chronic pain. Friends, these things will pass away and we will spend eternity at the feet of our Father who loves us perfectly. We can continue pressing on in this life knowing that this is not our home. It doesn’t excuse us from living our life intentionally and with purpose, but it does give us the ultimate hope to press on while we are still this side of Heaven. 








Kelsi Drake is our Director of Operations. As the Director of Operations, she oversees much of the administrative responsibilities of the church, and works closely with the staff team to support them in their roles.









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The ARC of Racial Justice - a Reflection and Exhortation from Pastor Matt Lorish

Here we are again. The video footage of Ahmaud Arbery is all over social media. It is a time for lament and a time for righteous anger. I write this blog post as a continuation to the initial posts offered by Northside Church members. My aim in this post is to help my fellow white brothers and sisters think about where we go from here. At the close of Jemar Tisby’s book, The Color of Compromise , he introduces a framework that he calls the A.R.C. of racial justice. Using Jemar’s framework, I’d like to humbly offer some application points that I think are important for me and my fellow white sisters and brothers at Northside Church to move towards. I also write this as a Christian pastor. Christians of all ethnicities are Bible people. The end-game for us isn’t just racial justice. The end-game for us is conformity to Jesus and honoring Him. Racial injustice is one of the areas in which we need God’s Spirit to change us, grow us and conform us (Rom 12:2, 2 Cor 3:18). My prayer is...

What is This? - A reflection by Christine Bor

“What is this?”, I demand, frustrated that God would allow this. “What is this?”, I cry, in anguish that God would allow this. “What is this?”, I sigh, exhausted that God would allow this. What is this thing that disrupts me from my day, my life, my comfort, my routine? What is this thing that once again disproportionately affects marginalized communities who have experienced the systemic oppression of food and housing insecurity and healthcare inequality for centuries? What is this thing that exposes and highlights the compounding of racial disparities and blatant prejudices? Manna is manhu, which in Hebrew translates to “What is this.” It’s an honest and brutal question. The Israelites were starving in the desert and when God gave them something to eat, they had the audacity to ask, “What is this?” But here I see the same audacity creep into my heart, my thoughts, my prayers. I question everything He places in my life and instead question, “What is this? How dare you...

His face was set for Jerusalem, so we can choose suffering too

My heart was arrested and blessed as I received my sister's prayer request this morning and saw her covered-up body (but sure-can't-cover-it-up glory). As is so often the case, she reminded me of our veiled-in-flesh Jesus. When she set out for Stanford, I wonder how excited those were who knew her. I wonder if they imagined how she might use that crown. What fame, what riches, what glory might follow. As He set out for Jerusalem, I wonder how excited those were who knew him. I wonder if they imagined how He might use that crown. What fame, what riches, what glory might follow. It was no mistake that He found Himself in Jerusalem. His face was set for it. To pay the penalty for our sins, to die while rescuing. He knew all along why he was going and what it would cost him. But we were worth it to Him. It was no mistake that she found herself with Covid patients today. Her face was set for it. Because He did what He did for her, she can risk while rescuing. S...