I have a hard time with those intent only on when Christ is returning.

Though my own calling is in many ways to prepare the bride for Christ, so that we don’t shrink back but welcome forward, the preoccupation with when this will happen has always seemed a waste of time.

Just today I read someone’s comment about how going to war with Syria just might bring about the rapture sooner. Really? Towards what good end I might ask.

I’m a firm believer that the quality of our experience in heaven will reflect the manner in which we lived for Christ here on earth.

If we are avoiding life here, how will we find life there?

If we are only longing for escape and that golden shore, who are we leaving behind? What have we left unfinished?

Now years back I was of the same folly. Welling up from within was this longing for Jesus to return. Often I would utter the words, “Come Lord Jesus, Come.”

We considered painting these words on a wall at my church, and I was upset and angry when that didn’t happen. Don’t we want him to come? I railed.

Until one quiet evening when the Lord said to me, “It’s not time yet Cyndy, stop it now.”

I was out of sync with the Lord’s timing first of all, but even more important, I was out of sync with the Lord’s heart.

God is holding back, that all might come to know him. ALL

And this is what gets me about longing for heaven. It’s pretty selfish.

When we are not able to settle into the presence of God here on earth, when all we want is escape to some nirvana, when all we can think about is what will be, I truly wonder what we will get.

About the same time that the Lord reprimanded me for my selfish heart, I began to understand that the work we do on earth will in some way impact eternity.

The days we invest here become investments in eternity. Eternity is not the end of now as we know it, it is the continuation of now.

So, here in the now, what are we investing in?

Is your life given over to the things that God gave himself for? Or are we selfishly looking to run away from our messed up world?

God didn’t run away. Still isn’t running away. Neither should we.