Jake Bishop

Christian, do you look forward to Eternity? Really, do you look forward to it?

I worry that many Christians have Huckleberry Finn’s attitude about the whole thing. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the main character, Huck Finn, has a hard time behaving. His teacher, Miss Watson, made sure to warn him that good boys who do their school work get to go to Heaven while the boys who didn’t do their homework went to the “bad place”  (Which isn’t how it works by the way.) 

Here’s how Huck Finn tells the story:

“Now she had got started, and she went on and told me all about the good place. She said all a body would have to do there was to go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn’t think much of it. But I never said so. I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together.”

When Huck heard about Heaven he “didn’t think much of it”. How many Christians would say the same? 

I spent much of my life not looking forward to Heaven. Maybe you have too. But the truth is, if you’re a Christian who is not excited about eternity then you don’t really understand what the Bible says about it. 

Revelation 21:1-3 says this, 

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”

Did you notice the two words there in the middle, coming down? These two words changed my understanding of Heaven when I first noticed them around 10 years ago. Really, it changed how I view Christianity. Heaven is coming down. Ultimately, we’re not going to Heaven, it’s coming to us. Heaven is coming to earth. And there is a lot to look forward to. 

We get glimpses of the New Earth when we stand at the top of the Smoky Mountains or at the edge of the Grand Canyon. We get glimpses when we eat a great meal or spend a day of fun with a friend. The wonderful gifts of this earth are appetizers before the feast of Heaven. And there’s no way that feast can be adequately described in a 800-word blog post.

To even get a glimpse of the wonders of the New Earth we have to take the appetizers of earth and amplify them a million times. Revelation 21 continues like this, 

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

Sin has distorted this world that God made and called “good” but all things will be made new. The sin will be removed, the evil parts of this world will be gone, and the earth will be renewed.

There’s a lot the Bible doesn’t say about eternity. But it tells us enough that we should be excited.

But do you know the best part of the whole thing? Let’s look back to Revelation 21:3, 

“Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.” 

God himself will be there. His home will be among us. We will spend eternity with Him!

At this point, you may be asking: “Jake, did you misunderstand your assignment? This is supposed to be a blog post about generosity. What does generosity have to do with eternity?”

Well, Concerned Reader… My answer to your well-timed question would be “Everything!” Generosity has everything to do with eternity. 

If this is all there is then why would we be generous? We can follow the example of the Rich man in Jesus’ parable who stored up all of his stuff and said to himself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”

But if our hope is eternal, if we look forward to eternity where all of the sad things will come untrue and everything will be made right, then we are freed to be generous now! The rich man in Jesus’ parable is called the “Rich Fool!” Why? Because he didn’t view his stuff through  an eternal perspective. 

Lord, help us not to be like that and help us to be generous in light of eternity!

In 2018 I was a second year seminary student, spending my days parsing Greek verbs and reading Systematic Theology textbooks. For a Bible nerd like me, this meant that life was awesome.

However, to say that money was tight during that time would be an understatement. God had provided for us by giving Alli an amazing job at the seminary, but we had made the decision that I would be a full time student so that I could take more classes each semester and finish school quicker.

As you can imagine, we didn’t have a ton of money. And because of this, each semester when my tuition was coming due was a very anxious time.

Over and over again, we were able to make it work. But there was one bill especially that I truly had no idea how we were going to pay. I looked at it so often the number is still ingrained in my mind: $4581.

There were so many prayers leading up to the day that bill was due, “Lord, how are we possibly going to pay $4581? I know that you’ve brought us to seminary, you want me to spend this time training for a life of ministry, but we need a miracle.”

I won’t belabor the point, you’re reading a blog post on generosity so I’m sure you know where this is going. Two days before the bill was due I checked my account balance and it no longer said $4581. Instead, it said $0. My entire debt had been paid.

Even more amazing, though, was the name of the person who made the payment: “Anonymous.” The person who gave us this miraculously generous gift chose to remain anonymous. To this day, we have no idea who it was.

I want to share that story because so often our generosity is another way just to make much of ourselves. Why is every building on college campuses named after someone? Because that’s how you get people to be generous… You make the giver’s name great.

Alli and I, however, were given one of the greatest gifts of our life by someone who didn’t even care to get credit. Now that is generosity.

So, if the person who paid that bill is reading this just know, God used you mightily in the lives of a young married couple. And your generosity has inspired us to be more generous to others!

In Luke 12:22-32 Jesus shares some of the most comforting words in all of Scripture. Take some time to read them slowly, examining them:

And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom…”

What sticks out to you about this passage? Here are some things that stick out to me…

● God is a God who cares even for the birds and the flowers! How can we possibly think that he doesn’t care about us?

● God is a God who is powerful enough to take care of us. So not only does he care about us, he is able to take care of us.

● Jesus calls us, “little flock.” We are sheep in the care of a good Shepherd who is pleased to give us the kingdom.

These are clearly amazing truths.

Now, let’s apply what we’ve read. There are many ways we can apply this passage and I invite you to take some time to think through your own applications…

But let me point out, Jesus actually gives his disciples one very important application. Picking up in verse 33:

Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The King of the Universe cares about us. He invites us to cast our anxiety on him. We are sheep in the care of the Good Shepherd. And what’s Jesus’ application to all of these amazing truths?

Be Generous. Give to the needy.

So why are Christians generous? Because our God is generous to us. We practice generosity in response to the generosity we receive on a daily basis.

Christian, live in that truth today!