Final Destination

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

FINAL DESTINATION

John 14:1-4

14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going." 

NIV

Our destination is not the grave, but a room in the house of God. That old song about there is a mansion just over the hilltop might make us think about all of us having some great mansion in the mountain of God, but the Greek word simply means an abode, a staying place. This implies a permanent place, someplace that will not be taken from us or that we would have to leave. Wherever and whatever we have in this temporal life on earth can be taken from us and it is for certain we are going to have to leave it. It seems there is a lot of troubled hearts over this temporal residence. Some people are filled with so much anxiety over so much that is only temporary. There can also be anxiety about what happens after death. Jesus tells us that we should not be anxious about what happens after we die. Because we trust in God and in Jesus, because we have put our trust in him, accepting him as our Lord and Savior, we are going to heaven. There is no doubt whatsoever. Jesus has told us that he has gone to prepare this place for us and that he is coming back to take us to be at home with him. So many times we plan trips to a certain destination, just as we most recently did when we went to Israel. So much planning, we spent over a year, getting ready. We had meetings at church, learning the spiritual significance of places we would be. We spent way more time in preparation than we did at the destination. But our final destination, heaven, is going to be quite different. Of course, we are now spending a lot of time in preparation for this final trip. But when we get there we will never ever leave it to return to our temporary residence again. Although we are spending much time getting ready, it really is just a jump in faith. It is not as though there is really anything else we need to do in order to make the journey with the Lord to that place he has prepared for us, other than putting our trust in him. We cannot buy this place, we cannot earn this place, we cannot repay him for this place he is giving us, we can only trust in him. Sure, we desire to live a life worthy of our calling. Yes, we desire to live in a manner that pleases him. Of course, we want to know as much about him and his word as we can. But the simple fact remains, in order to get to heaven we just have to trust in him. He is the only way we are going to make that trip. He is the only way we are going to get to that destination. We cannot even live a life worthy of him, without him. We are incapable of being pure and holy and righteous without him. Our whole life is completely dependent on him. He is the only way to our final destination. Some day we will be home at last.