The short answer is that we won’t, at least not in this life. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are not a citizen of this world and therefore the time spent here will never be completely comfortable. It is becoming clear to me that this manifests itself in us in various ways, at various times and in varying degrees. The bible speaks to the truth of this idea.
Ecclesiastes 3:9-14
What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
We work here and that work is (or should be) a reflection of the burden God has laid upon us. The work I’m talking about is not necessarily our vocation, but the purpose for which we were created (Ephesians 2:10). The real beauty in the burden will elude us until God’s time arrives. God has put eternity in our hearts… He has placed eternity in our hearts… we can find joy in our toil but we’ll still toil and carry a burden until our time here is done. Why? So that we will seek, trust, rely upon and hold tightly to God.
Ephesians 3:18-21
For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Many who walk this earth have their mind on earthly things and not eternity in their hearts. But for those of us who have trusted in Jesus, the time here is like that of a kid in the back seat on his way to Disney World. We scream, “When are we going to get there?” because we face frequent frustration and want to arrive and find that place of complete peace, complete joy and complete rest. I’m just not sure that’s what the bible teaches… at least while we’re here.
Paul said, “To live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Think about that… to live is Christ. What was Paul’s life like? What was Christ’s life on earth like? In addition, Death is gain. Eternity is gain. Making it home (heaven, where we are citizens) is gain.
Over the next couple of posts we’ll take a look at what I think this means for those of us who follow Jesus and also for those of us who have been called into vocational ministry.
