We can tell a lot about ourselves by what we long for, by what we desire, by what we dream about, by what consumes our thoughts when we lie in the quiet darkness of night. You can tell a lot because what consumes our thoughts is a good indication of what consumes our hearts which is, in turn, a good indication of what we value most. If we dream of riches it shows that we have set our hope on money. If we dream of sexual pleasures it shows that we have raised sex to the status of an idol. And so we should often ask ourselves: What do I dream about? What do I long for? And what does this tell me about myself? Our God or “gods” are never far from our desires.

I don’t think I’m wrong in suggesting that few of us spend much time dreaming about Heaven. Most of our longings extend little farther than what we can see, have, and experience here on earth. And yet the consistent message of the Bible is that there are treasures and blessings beyond this earth that are so beautiful, so wonderful, so desirable, that the best of earth’s joys will pale by comparison.
This longing is the subject of Stephen Morefield’s book Always Longing: Discovering the Joy of Heaven. He, like so many of us, has always known that Heaven is good, but has still preferred to focus his thoughts and desires on this world and this life. He has always known that Heaven is a wonderful place, but he still didn’t want to go there because he had other plans, other dreams, other things he wanted to accomplish. “Sports, college, ministry, marriage, kids—those sorts of things. I had too much to do to want to go to Heaven. I also had a healthy fear of death. Who wants to die? Not me. No thanks.”
But as time went on he came to understand some very good news. “I was completely wrong about Heaven, and you probably are too.” He was wrong in what he understood about Heaven and wrong about wanting to be here more than he wanted to be there. He realized that we live best when Heaven consumes our thoughts and fills our desires. We live best when we live with a longing to be absent from the body and home with the Lord.
He begins the book by asking simply, does Heaven matter? He follows Randy Alcorn in showing that we were made for both a person and a place, and “that person, experienced in the presence of that place, will meet every single need we could ever have. Complete satisfaction is possible. All of our longings tell us it must be. But only in this divine gift of a person and a place will we ever find it.”
The second chapter faces the reality that we must all die and considers what happens after death. He balances the horror of death with the beauty of finally being in the presence of God. “For the Christian, death is used by God for a greater gain, despite its wicked advent.” He distinguishes here between the intermediate Heaven—Heaven as it is now—and the New Heaven and New Earth—Heaven as it will be after Christ’s return. He dedicates one chapter to considering how history will end—a chapter (and follow-up appendix) that is beautiful but may not make him a lot of friends among those who hold to a Dispensational perspective. As the book continues he considers where Heaven is, what we will do there, and the posture we should maintain as we await our time. The final chapter deals with the reality of Hell which leads to a conclusion that includes a strong call to trust in Christ.
We would be lying if we said that this world is only full of sorrows and woes, for that is not the case. We experience many blessings here and enjoy many pleasures. And it is good and honoring to God when we embrace them. Yet these pleasures are not meant to captivate us, but to point us to the fulfillment of our longings—to the presence of that person in that place. And this book does a commendable job of directing our longings in just that way. “Cheer up,” Morefield says. “And as you cheer up, make sure you don’t turn back, sit down, or tread water. Press on. Hit heaven in stride. Jesus’s grace is not only enough to save you now; it’s enough to bring you home and to do so with joy and faithfulness. Run, and run hard. And as you press on, smile. You were made for a person and a place, and both of them will be yours by his grace alone.” And that is worth longing for…
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History has bequeathed to us some precious prayers. I’m grateful that many of them have been collected for our use and benefit. Robert Elmer’s Piercing Heaven is among my favorites, and in its pages I found this sweet one from the pen of Robert Hawker.

Precious Jesus, you have been a strength to my poor soul, and you will be my portion forever. Help me to see my daily need of you, and to feel my poverty and weakness.
From persecution to my guilty conscience, to the remains of sin in a body of death, to the accusations of Satan or even the just judgments of God—I am secure in you, Lord Jesus. And I continually cry out, as did your prophet, “In the Lord I have righteousness and strength, even to you do I come; and never will I be ashamed or confounded, world without end.”
You have given grace, glory, and honor to your Israel. I want your name, Lord, on the gates of my house, so that no one will walk by and miss the fact that a lover of the Lord lives there!
It is my highest honor to have it known whose I am, and whom I serve, in the gospel of his dear Son. How could I be ashamed of that name before which every knee bows in heaven and on earth?
And Lord Jesus, not only write your name upon the gates of my house, but engrave it at the center of my heart and my affections—on my first, and last, my earliest, and latest thoughts!
Let it be my joy to speak out of the abundance of my heart about you and your great salvation. In all I say, in all I do, let it be clear that I am in pursuit of the one my soul loves.
Let my every action point to your dear name. And whether at home or abroad, in my house or family, when lying down or rising up, let all creation witness for me, that the love, the service, the interest, the glory of my God in Christ is the only object of my soul’s desire.
Let every thing in my life say this: “Whom have I in heaven but you, and there is none upon earth I desire but you. Though my flesh and heart fail, yet you are the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.” Amen.

I thought it likely that someone somewhere could use this reminder: That right now, at this very moment, God is reigning from his throne.

(Yesterday on the blog: Teaching Others to Sing Sweetly)
Intersectionality and My Adoptive Family
Trent Hunter has a fascinating look at intersectionality through the lens of a very multi-ethnic family. “My children are at impressionable and tender ages, and they are the battlefield targets of this teaching. If our family took these ideas seriously — as serious proponents intend — they would suffocate our love, steal our joy, and destroy my family. Intersectionality brings the division of mother against child and son against father in very different ways than Christ does.”
Assisted suicide is spiralling out of control in Canada
Proponents of euthanasia like to downplay the slippery slope argument, but as this article makes clear, Canada is a current case study in how that slippery slope is basically inevitable.
Wade In The Water
Seth says that “we are often faced with situations where we must choose if we will trust God’s promises of provision, or turn away from where he is leading us in order to blaze our own path, by our own means.”
Renewal of Work: Mijito Vinito
I enjoyed this interview with Mijito Vinito at TGC India as he “reflects on how the gospel helps him reconcile a pursuit of excellence and awareness of brokenness.”
How to Guard Against Over-Reliant Discernment
Lara d’Entremont helps us guard against a kind of discernment that is over-reliant on so-called discernment experts.
Suffering and the Mission of the Church
Radius International recently held a conference on The Mission of the Church and they’ve posted the various plenaries and breakouts. There’s lots to listen to, including messages from Kevin DeYoung and Alistair Begg and biographies by Ian Hamilton.
Flashback: The Rise of Digital Technologies and the Decline of Reading
You can’t be surprised when bland books can’t hold their own against excellent videos or outstanding podcasts. Perhaps in this way the Internet offers a challenge that will help improve the quality of our books.

The one unique thing that a local church has to offer to people mired in poverty is the gospel of Jesus Christ. —Mez McConnell & Mike McKinley