Throughout the centuries, Christianity has always been an "other-worldly" religion. Certainly, there was plenty of emphasis in the Bible on today's tasks but even the priorities and principles which governed daily life were established by the vision of the believer's heavenly inheritance.A Christian lived life as an investment for the future, taking care of whatever temporal business was before him but with a hope, a joy and a spiritual confidence that looked for its ultimate rewards.
But something happened in the decades following the Industrial Revolution when Western culture became more oriented to social progress and eventually to the enjoyment of consumer goods and services. Rather than traveling light in this pilgrimage through time, Christians started putting down stakes and getting comfortable in this life. Rather than focusing on eternity, they became preoccupied with more mundane matters: health and comfort, progress, social status, leisure, money, entertainment and acquisition of "stuff."
It became rare in Western churches to hear hymns with such lyrics as "This world is not my home. I'm just a passin' through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this world anymore."
No, the afterlife became an ethereal, back of one's mind, rather not think about it part of Christianity instead of its vibrant, motivating strength.
Randy Alcorn, author of one of the very best books you'll ever read on heaven, has long been disturbed by the modern Church losing this critical emphasis on heaven. And he talks about it briefly in this column from the Eternal Perspective Ministries website. It's entitled, "Ready for the Long Tomorrow?"
A startling thing has happened among modern Christians in the western world. Many of us habitually think and act as if there is no eternity—or, as if what we do in this present life has no bearing on eternity. How many sermons about heaven or hell have most of us heard lately? How many books or articles have you read on the subject? How many long discussions with Christian friends, pondering the wonders of eternity? How many gospel booklets even mention the words “heaven” or “hell”? (Look carefully—you may be surprised.)
The trend today is to focus not on our eternal future (who cares about the “sweet bye and bye”?) but our present circumstances, as if this world were our home. Yet Scripture states the reality of our eternal future should dominate and determine the character of our present life, right down to the words we speak and the actions we take (James 2:12; 2 Peter 3:11-12).
This world is not our home. It’s a motel room we occupy on the way to our true home, which the Carpenter from Nazareth promised he would prepare for our arrival (John 14:1-3). On the day we die true Christians don’t leave home, we finally arrive home! While we’re here, Scripture calls us “aliens” and “strangers” and “ambassadors” and says our citizenship is not in this world but in heaven...
The rest of this terrific essay is right here.
