“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT)

 

Manx shearwaters are seabirds that nest off the coast of Wales. To study the birds’ homing instincts, scientists tagged and transported several Manx shearwaters to various points around the globe. They released the birds to see if they could make their way back to the coast of Wales in just twelve days. Each one did. One bird, which was released in Boston, traveled 250 miles a day from a place it had never been before to get back home.

So, the next time someone calls you a birdbrain, take it as a compliment.

God has placed a homing instinct in us as well. Call it a homesickness for Heaven. We long for a place we’ve never been before. That’s how we’re wired. The author of Ecclesiastes said that God “has planted eternity in the human heart” (3:11 NLT). In our next set of devotions, we’re going to explore what the Bible says about Heaven, the beacon for our homing instinct.

Some people tend to go mystical when they talk about the afterlife. They describe Heaven as a state of mind rather than an actual place. The Bible, on the other hand, describes Heaven as a real place. Jesus told His followers, “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2 NLT).

The author of Hebrews described Heaven as a city. “But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:16 NLT).

Jesus identified Heaven as the dwelling place of God when He began the Lord’s Prayer with the words “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9 NLT).

Luke identified it as the dwelling place of angels. “When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about’” (Luke 2:15 NLT).

Hebrews 12:23 identifies Heaven as the dwelling place of believers who have died. “You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect” (NLT).

Our brief time on earth is a pale imitation—a sneak preview—of what awaits us in Heaven. C. S. Lewis wrote, “All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been hints of heaven—tantalising glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear.”

Lewis also wrote , “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is I was made for another world…Earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy but to arouse, to suggest, the real thing.”

Heaven is the real thing that we long for.

 

Reflection question: How can you tell that you have eternity planted in your heart? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship!

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