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“Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die” is a very popular saying where I’m from but I beg to differ because I believe this is wrong. I believe the right saying should be this: “everybody wants to go to heaven but so many do not want to follow and obey the precepts and commandments of God“. There, I said it!

Of recent, I’ve been thinking about heaven, most importantly about making heaven because whether we like it or not, the end of this world as we know it draws closer and closer. I was drawn to the book of John 14v1-4 recently where Jesus Christ said this,

 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 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 you. And if I go and prepare a 

place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And 

where I go you know, and the way you know.”

 Can you see? Jesus promised to go prepare a PLACE for US! Now seriously, after He’s gone to all that trouble to prepare a place for us, are we saying we would not do all we can to make it there? Imagine this scenario: you’ve invited a very special friend you have not seen in ages over to your home. Well before the day, you’ve gone to so much length to do some shopping, clear up the house, and you’ve been expectant. On the day, you spent so much time cooking food and you’re oh so excited. Then…your friend is a no show! They just could not make it for one reason or the other and the excuses were so not justifiable. Seriously, how would you feel? It’s the same way with us and Jesus, we make so many excuses as to why we cannot follow God’s commands but then Jesus has “gone to prepare a place for us“…are we going to be a no show? He even promised to “come and get us when everything is ready so that we will always be with Him where He is” Come on!! What more do we want? He did not only lay down His life as a ransom for us all, He left to prepare a place for us, sent us a Companion and a Counselor (the Holy Spirit) who will never leave us and promised to do anything we ask in His name. Do you see?

Let me try to explain this…Before leaving this world, Jesus told His disciples that He was going back to the Father (God) and on His return to the Father, He would prepare a place for each of us out of the many rooms in His Father’s home (Heaven) – John 14v1-4. However, once He leaves earth, He will ask the Father to send another Counselor, Who would be His representative on earth and Who would teach us everything, remind us of everything He has told us AND lead us into all truth – John 14v16, 26. Jesus is also not only preparing a place for us, He’s soliciting for us in heaven because He says in verse 13&14 of John 14 that we can “ask for anything in His name, and He will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father“. So do you see? He was and is thinking about us all the time. Even in the face of death, He was thinking about us and making plans with the help of the Father to make this life worth living and to give us a hope for eternity.

I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be a “no show” and I pray earnestly that by His grace I will not be. Are you going to be a “no show”?

Word of the day…

Deuteronomy 30 v19, 20 - This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before 

you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that 

you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and 

he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.