Packing for Heaven - The Christian Online Magazine

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"In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you¼ That where I am, there ye may be also" John 14:2-3Traveling.

I look inside my suitcase. As the emptiness of the suitcase stares at me, I’m tempted to just grab some clothes from my closet and throw them into the suitcase. However, because I want to be prepared for my trip, I think carefully about what it is that I need for this trip.

I consider the destination of my current trip. I ponder those activities that await me at my destination point. I consider the people I’ll meet. I turn, looking into my closet, locate the right clothes, and then begin to fill my suitcase.

As I fill the suitcase, I suddenly remember that I will need a change of shoes, so I dump my suitcase out and hunt for the shoes that I’ll need, knowing that I need to put the shoes in the bottom of the suitcase. I finally find the right shoes, throw them in the bottom of the suitcase, and then start to repack my clothes.

When I think that I have everything that I will need for this trip, I try to close the suitcase. The zippers moan, but I finally manage to get the suitcase closed.

Now, I am ready. I put my suitcase by the door and begin the wait for the taxi that will take me to the airport.

The taxi company had been told to pick me up at 7:30, but it is now 7:35 and I begin to wonder whether the taxi will arrive. I count each minute, waiting for the taxi, calculating the amount of time that is required to travel from my house to the airport. I suddenly remember that I’ll be meeting a friend and I search my house for the present that I’ve gotten for him. I gently ease open my suitcase and squeeze the present into the suitcase. Now, I believe that I’m ready and I wait.

Heaven.

Wherever I may travel in this world, I am always looking forward to the trip that will deliver me to the eternal joy and peace of Heaven. On that glorious day, when God calls me home to Heaven, I want to be ready; I want to be prepared. As 2 Corinthians 5:1 encourages:

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

There are travelers, who will oversleep on the day of their travel. On their appointed travel day, they are awaken to the sound of a taxi’s blaring horn. The traveler hurriedly dresses and begins to throw anything and everything into their suitcase, in a state of panic and demonstrative of their failure to pack the night before. They are unprepared.

As the taxi driver impatiently honks the horn, the traveler becomes oblivious to the purpose of their trip: They are only focused on getting their suitcase packed and into the taxi. When the traveler finally closes the suitcase and rushes to the taxi, they usually have the nagging thought that they’ve forgotten something.

When this type of traveler reaches their final destination, they may often discover that while they packed an abundance of pants, they forgot to pack shirts. They are unprepared.

Am I prepared for Heaven?

Like the traveler who hastily packed their suitcase, finding it lacking, upon their arrival, some are lulled into a spiritual slumber, oblivious to the eventuality of judgment day, the final trip. As Luke 13:24-25 warns:

"Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are."

As I think of Heaven, I look inside my spiritual suitcase and ask myself, "What is it that I will take to Heaven?" and "When I arrive before God on judgment day, what will be inside my suitcase?"

When God prompted me to provide comfort to a desolate friend, did I follow His prompting or did I say, "Next time?" When I was provided the opportunity to witness to a non-believer, did I step forward and share my testimony or did I say, "Next time?" When the church needed volunteers, did I raise my hand or did I say, "Next time?" Are these items that are in my spiritual suitcase or are these items that will be found missing on judgment day?

As I look inside my spiritual suitcase, I imagine it being filled with the countless times of prayer with God. I imagine the countless times of worshiping God. I imagine the countless times, when God provided me with comfort, encouraged me that I was His own child, and that Heaven would be my reward. I imagine the countless prayers that others have prayed for me.

My spiritual suitcase not only contains those things which I have added, but also those items that others have added to my life.

I believe that I’m ready for Heaven and that my suitcase is full. However, as I was reminded to pack a present for a friend on the day of my earthly travel, I am now prompted by God to pray for a sick friend. In the eyes of God, my suitcase is not yet full. I wait.

"And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." 2 Kings 2:11