Author: Sakkie Parsons
A few e-mails back, I told you why I am sure that we will recognize our loved ones in Heaven and that we will love each other.
Our Lord then put something else in my heart to share with you, which actually corresponds to that email to an extent. That which I want to share with you today, I will start with a question:
Can I look at something here on earth and then decide – ‘This I am taking with me to Heaven” – and then actually do it?
The way I see it the answer is of course, a very definite no.
God also says in His Word:
1TIM 6:7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so {it is clear that} we cannot take anything out of it, either.
Yet Jesus comes and says to us:
MATT 6:19-21
19 “Do not store up for yourselves [material] treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
You see, according to what I understand in this regard, it works like this:
I cannot take anything with me into Heaven, but I can store up treasures for myself in Heaven.
To every person that you and I have already preached and still will preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to, and who then accepts Jesus as Savior and Redeemer and then follows Him for the rest of their lives into Heaven, is a treasure which you and I have a part in.
Do you know how much happiness we bring into Heaven when we help our Lord to lead another person to repentance by proclaiming the gospel to him / her?
These are the words of Jesus:
LUK 15:10 “In the same way, I tell you,there is joy in the presence of angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
All the angels in heaven see and share in the joy of God about a soul that repents him-self / her-self.
Thus, not only will we one day see, recognize, and share with our loved ones that kept the faith, our perfect love for our Lord and each other, but we will also have the pleasure of loving all the treasures we gathered when we proclaimed the gospel of Jesus.
All of those beloved treasures who repented and accepted Jesus as Savior and Redeemer and who fought the good fight to the end.
So, come and persevere in collecting treasures in heaven – I repeat Jesus' words in the Old Translation:
MATT 6:20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
MATT 6:21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
While we also remember:
JAMES 5:20 let the one know that the one who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will save that one’s soul from death and cover a multitude of sins [that is, obtain the pardon of the many sins committed by the one who has been restored].
My great hero Paul also looked forward to seeing this great treasure one day in Heaven.
He puts it like this:
1THS 2:19-20
19 For who is [the object of] our hope or joy or our victor’s wreath of triumphant celebration [when we stand] in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? Is it not you?
20 For you are [indeed] our glory and our joy!
Other thoughts for the day I wrote by the grace of our Lord, which you might be interested in which I could send to you with the greatest love are:
- The visible things are temporary,but the invisible forever
- Do animals have souls and can they go to heaven
- Oor die derde Hemel en ons loon
- Will we recognise each other in heaven
- Want aan sulkes behoort die koninkryk van die hemele
Kind Regards,
Sakkie