Here and Now and the Hereafter

My mind is on heaven this morning. I am thinking about heaven because I know what we are experiencing here on earth is not all there is to life. There is more to life than the here and now; it also includes the hereafter.

While thinking about the hereafter, I started listing a few observations:

• Peter reminds us that we are just passing through the here and now when he said, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world…” (1 Peter 2:11).
• Some day I will live in the hereafter, perhaps I should prepare for that existence by studying more about my eternal life through Jesus Christ.
• Paul reminds us to set our minds on the hereafter when he said, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above , where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1-2).
• I have plenty of family and friends who are no longer living in the here and now; they are now living in the hereafter.
• Some day the here and now for me will be in the hereafter. Am I prepared for that day?
• Are the people already living in the hereafter able to look back on the here and now? If so, what do they remember? What do they see? The writer of Hebrews said, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…” (Hebrews 12:1). Does that Scripture infer that people in heaven can look down on the here and now?

Have you given much thought lately to the hereafter? I would be curious to read what comes to your mind when you think about heaven. Please share your thoughts. I am sure others would like to read them as well.