One of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed was during the time I was working at a rescue mission. An event was planned at our city’s convention center, which brought in some top-tier international speakers from the Christian community.
As I was sitting in our customary Monday morning leadership team meeting, one of the speakers dropped by our mission and made a donation. This person ran a ministry in the poorest country in the world where they fed 50,000 orphans a day, yet she saw fit to follow some homeless people on the street until she found where they were staying. God had put it on her heart to bless faith-based organizations working with the poor in every city where she spoke. But donating was not enough for her. She also invited all our guests to see her speak the next day.
We put up invitations all over campus, and the next day 19 women and 11 men set out for the conference center. When we arrived and the speaker saw us, she flagged me and asked that everyone from the mission file into the front two rows. She asked the dignitaries to give up their seats for this to happen and they did not look too happy as they scurried to find other seating.
I did not sit with our guests from the mission but rather chose to stand on the outskirts, watching them receive glory here on earth that will only be a tiny part of what they will receive in heaven. Tears filled my eyes as I realized I was witnessing the upside-down kingdom here on earth. Until this day, our guests were not even welcome on the property outside of the convention center. So, to see them, hesitantly, walking up to the property, going inside, and then being ushered to the front seats, overwhelmed me like few things ever had before.
I love the scripture of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-25). Not the part where the rich man is in hell looking for even a drop of water, but the part where Lazarus is restored to his rightful place as a child of God. After living a life of begging at the city gate, with passerby’s looking down on him, spitting on him, calling him names, and acting as if he was less than human, can it get more beautiful than his full restoration for eternity?
I also love the scripture that talks about the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. That struck me as I left the convention that afternoon with a joy that that defies words.
I love to bring hope to the poor and disenfranchised that we are privileged to walk with in this “blink of an eye” life. I am so grateful that they may endure what many would consider a “less than” life (by the world’s standards), but I get to share the hope of eternity where (as I like to say), it is level at the foot of the cross. If you knew you were going to have to endure one really bad day in all of eternity, I think you could endure it knowing that for all the rest of your days, the finest of heaven would be yours. Do you live this way? Or like many of us, have you been duped into believing this life is the best you will ever get, and then you die and go to heaven believing that will be boring as we will float around on clouds worshipping all day?
Friends, we need to understand our final destination—it is not heaven. God will make all things new (Rev 21:1-5). A new earth, with its center being a new Jerusalem. Heaven will come down and be part of the new earth with God reigning in that Holy City where the river of life flows through it and his children will drink forever. All will be restored, as it was in Eden, but with more advanced cities and cultures that all line up with the “very good” of creation, all things in perfect harmony with the way God created them to be.
And that’s the mid-week memo.
Colleen
