Do You Have A Heavenly Perspective? (Excerpt from host’s book “Flourish”)

This week we are featuring an excerpt from my book Flourish since the kindle version is on sale for 99 cents at Amazon.com this week through Friday. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/Flourish-Growth-Community-Living-Gospel/dp/0986382302 . Flourish is for anyone who desires to become mature in Christ. You can reach a place where common temptations are easily overcome and you are able to connect with people in God’s way. The book explains most of the important elements of following Jesus. There are over 50 chapters and most of the chapters in the book are short so you can pause and absorb what you have just read. Relationships and community are the unifying themes of the book. Here is the entire main body of chapter 29:

“An essential principle of following Jesus is learning to live with a heavenly perspective. This means living our lives, knowing that we are citizens of heaven, (Philippians 3:20), and will spend eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth … Store your treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19–20 NLT). Colossians 3:2 states: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (NIV).

When Jesus came, He brought the Kingdom of Heaven and His followers live in the Kingdom now! But the Kingdom is mixed with this fallen world. After Jesus comes He will sweep away all the fallen-ness and the promise of the perfect Kingdom for us will be fulfilled.

Since we are His children, He is waiting to give us an immense inheritance. Our inheritance from Him is His kingdom, and He gives some of it now and the rest in the next life. In this life we receive His Spirit, His love, and His power in our hearts, but we still have to struggle in a sinful world, and we are far from perfect. In the next life He will give us the rest of His kingdom (Read chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation). He will remove all sin from our new world and remove all sin from us. We will have no more pain and no more tears (Revelation 21:4). We will live in complete joy and harmony with God and his followers in a never-ending community of love. God will give us His own glory so that we “will shine like the sun in the kingdom of [our] Father.” (Matthew 13:43 NIV) Our future is the kingdom of heaven.

God is going to give us rewards in heaven. Jesus said “Love your enemies! Do good to them. … Then your reward from heaven will be very great” (Luke 6:35). He also told us to rejoice when we are rejected for Christ’s sake because we will have great reward in heaven (Luke 6:22). At the end of the last book of the Bible, Revelation, Jesus said “I am coming soon and my reward is with me to repay all according to their deeds.” (Revelation 22:12). God will give us rewards for our good works and who can doubt that a reward from God in heaven is worth more than all the wealth on earth?

Let us meditate on and absorb this eternal reality so that it immunizes us against our love for earthly wealth and status. As we begin to actually believe the truth about our future, we will find ourselves freer of worldly strivings and more motivated to store up treasure in heaven.

You will be rewarded with treasures in heaven for the ways you loved God and others in this life. As you believe this, you will develop a heavenly perspective about this life and learn to live in that spiritual reality. God’s kingdom is “not of this world.” (John 18:36) If you try to live by the world’s priorities, then you will enter the next life with regret. You will miss out on the great rewards God wanted to give you.

It is extremely important to believe what God says about the spiritual reality we live in. Jesus Christ is above all the rulers and powers we see around us, (Ephesians 1:21–22), and “in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17)

God is everywhere, working in people’s hearts and bringing history to its great conclusion according to his will. He wants you to be part of this.”

I would love to hear your comments about heavenly perspective. You are invited to leave your comments below, or answer any of these questions:
Which part of a heavenly perspective have you adopted in your life?
How has having a heavenly perspective changed your life?