Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. – 1 Corinthians 2:9
After my brother moved out of our home, he relocated to another town. From then on, when he came back to visit, it was a special event. On one of these occasions, he took my mom, my younger sister, and me out to dinner. We had heard of an all-you-can-eat place in a nearby city (these were not nearly as common as they are now), and we decided to go there.
For some reason, the restaurant we selected did not appeal to my sister, and she indicated that she wanted nothing to do with it. She announced that she would go with us in the car, but when we got there, she would stay outside. Mom wisely chose not to argue with her.
When we got there, my sister got out of the car with us, stating that she would go inside with us, but she was not going to eat anything. Again, we did not say anything. When we got inside, we found the restaurant to be very nice, with a wonderful selection of food and a great ambiance. Guess what? My sister started loading up her plate along with the rest of us and did not say another word about not eating. She had found that the reality of the situation was far better than what she had been imagining.
In a similar way, many people have heard that they should give their lives to the Lord, but for some reason the idea does not appeal to them. Our focus verse talks about the unknown joys of Heaven, but for a sinner the joys of salvation are also unknown. Hence they sometimes visualize the Christian walk as a dreary existence—a life of rules with no real joy. That could not be farther from the truth! But, who am I to talk? As an unsaved teenager, I envisioned Christianity in a decidedly negative way. After I stopped fighting it and turned my life over to the Lord, I found victorious Christianity to be the best way—the only way to live!
Let’s not forget the other application of our key verse. We have read the accounts of Heaven that describe streets of gold, pearly gates, and no night. Those Scriptures bring images of a world that is difficult for our human minds to grasp, but there is no need to worry about how it will turn out. We know that our loving Father is preparing a wonderful place for us, which will exceed our wildest dreams. When we get to Heaven, we will be thrilled to enter fully into the good things of the Lord. Let’s anticipate that moment!