Citizens of heaven – a long welcome home
Laurence Evans
Tuesday Jan 14 2020
This morning I was seated in the Home Office waiting room at Croydon, with Rochelle awaiting for her interview for British citizenship.The waiting room was full of people of every ethnicity, male and female, old and young. Many were nervous, some were excited. They all had once thing in common – they had waited years for UK residency, spent lots of money in applying and were eager to achieve a dream – to become a citizen of this land.
It occurred to me, what if all these people were applying to become citizens of heaven. What if they knew that the best ever place to live, better than the UK was a permanent residence where every day was joyful and peaceful, where there were no more tears, or pain or rejection, where the presence of Jesus and the feeling of family was all around you. If we truly understood how wonderful being with Jesus in heaven was and what a war zone it will be for those who reject them then we would happily spend hours or days in that waiting room, waiting for Jesus, waiting to be ushered into God the Father’s presence for welcome home hug and a big cheer from the crowd.
The good news is that we don’t need to wait long to enter heaven. A long welcome awaits when we turn away from our own way of living, believe in Jesus to save us from our sins and experience a new life of freedom.
Isaiah 55:6-7
6Seek GOD while he’s here to be found, pray to him while he’s close at hand. 7Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to GOD, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.
Hebrews 3:7-8
7So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice,8do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness.
