If we are children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.  Romans 8:17

Without a strong connection to Jesus, I will imagine heaven as one vast indulgence of everything I ever wanted. There’s beauty without limits and abundance without restraint. But if I do that, I will sadly miss the point. To be an heir of God is not to just inherit what He owns, but in the deepest sense fathomable, to inherit Him. God gives me Himself.

Is it possible that this doesn’t mean enough to me? Jeremiah said, “The Lord is my portion.” That is inheritance language. It is the language of a heart that has moved beyond being consumed with gifts to thoughts of the Giver. God once promised Israel a land flowing with milk and honey. There would be vineyards, wells, and abundant harvests. But those promises were nothing compared to God giving them Himself. His presence was the real treasure.

That thought undoes me this morning. There is no more moving moment in a romance than when one lover pledges their heart to the other.  I sometimes catch my breath. Words are spoken, vows are made, and someone no longer offers a part of themselves, but their very life. God does not merely forgive me, shepherd me, provide for me, or even protect me. He pledges Himself to me as the Lover of my soul. And He does this without any trace of reservation or regret.

Heaven will be glorious not because I will finally get everything I ever wanted, but because I will see Him without a veil of mortality obscuring His face ~ and without the interruption of time. Every earthly longing, even the ones that are misdirected, are really pointing there, culminating in the perfection of Holiness.

Teach me to hunger for You beyond what You can give, and to treasure Your heart above every answered prayer. Amen