Prior Arrangements

Heaven must be in me, before I can be in heaven. Charles Stanford

Reading today’s quote made me think of a movie I watched once. The gentleman who owned a ranch told his girlfriend from back East that you have to write your name in the dirt to love it, appreciate it, to be loyal to it. It took her the whole movie to get to that point but in the end she bent over and wrote her name in the dirt. Finally in her heart she was home at last.

In the case of heaven it’s no different. Heaven must be in us before we can be in heaven. Paul put it this way in Philippians 3:20 (Amplified) “But we are citizens of the state (commonwealth, homeland) which is in heaven, and from it also we earnestly and patiently await [the coming of] the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [as] Savior.”

Being a native of not only the state, town, or land I presently live on my name is definitely written in the dirt. This is where my citizenship or residency belongs. It’s something far beyond the legal aspects of it. It’s something that comes from my heart. Over the years between then and now I’ve lived several places within the state but eventually wound up back home caring for my mother crippled from a major stroke and being there to help my dad.

We are born where we are born but we get to make the choice of where we want to take up residency, where we want to write our name in the dirt. We don’t wake up one day and find ourselves living in the exact location we have always wanted to be thousands of miles away from where we originally were. It’s a choice. Sometimes a choice we want to make and other times a choice that circumstances make for us.

Praise the Lord we get the opportunity to choose our residency in Heaven. It starts here on earth. We don’t get to die and stand at a fork in the road on the other side picking Heaven or Hell as our place of residency. It’s up to us to choose our destination resort ahead of time.

Noah and his family had reserved sitting on the ark because of the choices that they made in their lives before the flood. Moses and the Israelites found themselves on the other side of the sea because of the choices they made prior to God parting the waters. Daniel got to play with the lions instead of being eaten by them because of the choices he made prior to joining them in the den. Jonah could have avoided his underwater trip if he only would have made the prior arrangements ahead of time.
We need to pick our destination resort ahead of time with reserve seating just for us with our name written all over it. It starts with our heart and our decision on where we want to spend eternity. The cost is free. It’s already been paid for by Christ when He died for us upon the cross.

Travel arrangements begin today. They don’t start by goggling our favorite travel agent and what the best deals currently are and the different choices you have to make. It starts with choosing to journey with Jesus through obedience, acceptance, and the desire to spend eternity with the Best, Jesus Christ. Prior arrangements we will never regret making as we take that first step into eternity, Praise the Lord.


Copyright 2009 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing