“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever” (John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions).
I’m getting to where I don’t even want to know what’s going on with the world. I don’t want to see news headlines or read any current events. I know from what little I’ve seen lately that everything just seems to be getting crazier and crazier with each passing day. Sometimes, it feels like evil is winning.
But then I remember the last few chapters of Revelation. One day all that evil will have its comeuppance. One day evil will be no more. In the meantime, it’s helpful to remember that those who are promoting the insanity are not the enemy. They are the mission field. They are among the ones Jesus sent us to when He told us to go and make disciples of all nations.
I’ve read all sorts of books on heaven and I still can’t wrap my head around it. I still can’t visualize what heaven will be like or what we’ll be doing there. I know it will be great. I know it will be better than my best moments here on earth, multiplied by a bazillion times a bazillion.
Still, the older I get, the more I long for heaven. How can I long for some place I’ve never been? How can I look forward to something I know so little about? I love the illustration of a doctor who was trying to comfort a man who was afraid of dying. He drew the man’s attention to a scratching and whining on the other side of the office door.
He opened the door and his dog came bounding in. He said in essence, “This dog had no idea what was on the other side of the door. He had no clue what awaited him, but he wanted to badly to be there because I was there. In the same way, we long to be in heaven because our Master, Jesus, is there.”
That’s enough for me. The end of all the insanity is a bonus, but the real reason is Jesus. And one day, I’ll be there. So will everyone who has ever bowed the knee and made Jesus Lord and Savior of their lives. Will you?
