When you have had the privilege to have attended or been a part of several different denominational churches, you can learn much about the current state of religion. Each one of these has its positive emphasis on the Holy Trinity and each with its shortcomings. From the teachings and instruction given by these organizations and by the general conduct of their members, one can generate a feel for the direction and spiritual status that modern religions now have.
Take a look around at the religious scene in your area. Then take the impressions you have collected there before the Lord and compare them to the Holy Scriptures. I think you may find a little incongruence when you consider the state of the hearts and what we find written in the Living Word. Modern religion is more in harmony with modern worldly thought and the direction of society today than it is with turning away from all that and serving an unseen entity with a separate set of values and different line of thought.
In fact Jesus referred to this when in John 14:16-17 He promises to send us a helper. He wants to send us the Spirit of Truth to take us gently by the hand through this wilderness of society and thought where we live. Here too He plainly explains that is impossible for the world to receive this Spirit because it has no way of seeing it or knowing it.
With this in mind, let us examine John 14 in just a little more depth.
Jesus knew that His time here in the body was coming to an end and He was preparing to finish the work which He had come to perform. Fitting to a correct concept of the Divine, we can never find an end to the discoveries and realizations of all that work and word entailed. But it may be extremely beneficial to try and it pleases our Lord whenever we come to Him looking for instruction.
In John 14:1, Jesus turns our attention once again to the Father, the Center and core of our existence. Then He ties Himself with that core but with the incredible blessing of including us in that union. He states that He must go back to the Father but He does so to make ready the place for us there.
The general trend in our day is to paint a wonderful picture to the young or new believers where heaven the everlasting kingdom are in many ways much similar to our own habitat but with all of the bad things removed. We picture beautiful golden streets, a wonderful mansion that Jesus promised us which closely resembles the house of our dreams. In our yard we see there a lamb and a lion lying down together and all our loved ones with big smiles like we had just won the lottery.
Now it is true that Jesus promised us a place and in our text He makes a point to verify that by using His Divine character to give weight and truth to His declaration. ¨If it were not so, I would have told you.¨ (John 14:2) So we can rest assured that the place does exist and that He has gone to prepare it for us.
Unfortunately though, Jesus´ words we constantly try to change into human terminology and human interpretation. We have a super strong tendency to convert everything the Bible teaches into material and physical terms. But the Bible deals with other realms and has ever tried to direct our attention towards the spiritual. Scripture makes no attempt to make neglect the temporal or the physical, but it always places the spiritual first and foremost in importance.
Heaven is our goal, as the old hymn states, however when we sing of it or think of it we need to steel ourselves against the temptation to lower heaven into a replication of our own world. We need to try hard not to make Jesus´s words to fit our desires of having a beautiful new home and all the delights we can imagine.
Far too many churches today sell us just that. So many in fact that to speak otherwise, I am sure we may lose many friends. But Jesus is our example and if He constantly corrected us and pointed us back towards God, then we must do the same.
Heaven for sure is a wonderful place, nobody could dispute that. But when we gaze too long at the pleasantries and let our eyes wander to the treats, then we take our eyes off of God and His Son. We may not sense it, but our hearts go out to the things and our intentions set themselves on making us receivers. This may sound harmless as we are speaking of God´s heaven, but remember that we still wear a nature of tendency towards sin.
To look at the gifts and treasures God gives us, we give way to covetousness and our fallen nature yearns to make those things ours. This secret drive and desire to possess things for ourselves is a disease within our hearts and it is one not easily cured.
So when the churches we attend offer us a full plate of blessings, of eternal life and a wonderful new home, we need to be on our guard against self. Do not let your heart go out to the gifts, but rather focus on the Giver.
Jesus too looked forward to returning to where the Father dwells. However His desires and His intentions were pure. Jesus kept it perfectly clear that He returned to be with that Father whom He loves. He made no mention of any material thing He was looking forward to having or any other pleasure than to return to His place at the Father´s side. There is room for us there too. This is what Jesus was saying and if we would truly love Him, apart from any selfish desire towards our personal pleasures, His assurance is true.
Yes my friends, Heaven is beyond any doubt more wonderful than we could dream of. Jesus Himself declares it so. We have been invited and we have an advocate working for us in the Great Counsel right now. More glory and delights than our hearts and minds can hold has been promised to us.
But don´t you think that the ones who will be worthy to receive even the slightest part of this, are those who were not seeking it in the first place. Those blessed souls who will be received into that place Jesus spoke of will be the ones who have clear what they seek. They seek more than any desire, to go to the Father and to their place with the Son. This is their heaven and their reward, to finally be united to the One whom they have longed for all along.
Please make every effort to turn from this deadly disease. Work hard and pray hard that the Spirit correct any wrong motives in our desires to enter into heaven. Make heaven not a place where you will have all the things you have ever wanted, but rather a place to be together with our Lord. Seek only Him, and you may have Him. Want Him, and train your heart to want nothing else. By doing this, and only by doing this, we open ourselves to the possibility of cleansing and healing from the powerful and deadly disease of self.
Even in the very fold of Christ today, we must be watchful against deceit, and our desire after God and in making it to heaven could become a snare for us. Take the matter to the Lord, study it for yourself. When you humble yourself and ask in all honesty, the Spirit will show you where your true leanings are. You will be shown whether or not you truly desire to be with Jesus, or you just want to live forever in the house of your dreams.
Scott W
Searching For Christ 
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