Have you slipped into bed and found the sheets a little too crispy? I don’t mean starchy crisp, but cold crisp. I had an electric blanket one time and it sure was nice to climb into that warm bed. The only problem was after I was in it for a few minutes it became too warm.
Our children enjoy the feel of a warm bed. We have this ritual that takes place each morning. When they get up, they come, one at a time, into our bed and snuggle up close to enjoy a few minutes of a warm bed before getting ready for school. I guess the truth is they snuggle more with their mom than with me. I am usually gone and I think I lose out to the mother/child relationship.
Do you remember crawling into bed when you were a child? It was not only warm but also secure next to Mom. It makes you anticipate how warm and secure it will be with Christ when we enter into His presence in heaven.
There is a book by Randy Alcorn called “Heaven” that I have recently finished which gives a biblical glimpse of what it will be like in heaven. I have really enjoyed the book and am looking forward even more to that time when we will be with Jesus.
God created the perfect place for us to live and walk with Him when He created the earth and placed man in the Garden of Eden. Man was removed from the garden for a while because of sin but the bible teaches that we will return.
Romans 8:18-25 records Paul’s writings on the subject when he wrote, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
The book of Revelation records what it will be like to be in the presence of God, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…prepared as a bride beautifully dresses for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their god. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’” When we move from this world, as we know it, into the very presence of God it will be even greater than that warm bed next to Mom and Dad.
The familiar but often times overlooked verse in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” is a calling for all to come into the warmth of a loving God and rest in his presence.
Our children look forward to the warmth of our bed as we should look forward to the security and warmth of being in the presence of God. We choose to come into his presence by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul writes in Romans that, “creation waits in eager expectation”.
“Eager expectation” describes our children’s desire to jump into our bed every morning. Diane and I will never grow old or impatient with them for wanting to be next to us…and neither will God.
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