A GLIMPSE INTO HEAVEN: THE LOCAL CHURCH

Have you ever forgotten how much you missed something until you had it again?? It could be a special dessert, a childhood friend, a long-needed vacation, or perhaps even the church. Sometimes when you have been away from something for so long, you forget what you miss until you are there again. This has been my experience since being away from the local church due to the global pandemic of COVID-19.

Praise God, the church I attend has opened up again, and it was during our first time back together, God reminded me of yet another important reason to gather as a church.

When followers of Jesus gather together to praise the one true God, they see and participate in a glimpse of Heaven.

Read on to discover how!

You Were Made to Worship.

Worship is a central part of your make-up as a human being. People will worship celebrities, sports, materialism, comfort, spouses, children, good deeds, and the list goes on and on. If you were to examine where your money, time, and underlying motivation for pursuing various life successes are, you would see where your heart is.

Even as a follower of Jesus, you will struggle with a divided heart. The tension between wanting to live for yourself versus for God is precisely what the apostle Paul spoke about in Romans 7. When you live for yourself, you are practicing a form of worship directed at you. When you live for God, who is holy and perfect in every way, you worship Him. The tension in your direction of worship is an impactful reminder to you that God wants your whole heart, not just part. And when you praise Him through the Spirit who cries out, “Abba Father,” (Galatians 4:6), you will experience fullness of joy from His presence (Psalm 16:11).

Worship Brings Pleasure.

In the book of Revelation, God gave the apostle John a glimpse into the pureness and pleasure of worshiping Him with all nations, tribes, and languages when sin is no more and a new Heaven and earth exists. When you gather for worship, and you proclaim with a collective voice: God is great, you are participating in this future glimpse of being in God’s presence unstained from sin.

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

Revelation 7:9-10

Why Should I Participate in Imperfect Worship?

Here on this side of Heaven, you will not yet experience the fullness and perfection of the worship described in Revelation 7. You will struggle with a divided heart and not love God with all that you have (Matthew 22:37). At times you will battle division with other believers and the world around you. Yet, these are not reasons to avoid the local church, but to run to it. When you are participating in worship with other broken people, you are taken off of center-stage and directed to the holiness and righteousness of God, who is deserving of all praise because He alone offers hope to your brokenness and the brokenness of others.

It is in the presence of worshiping God with others that you participate in reminding one another of the prize waiting for believers when Jesus returns regardless of your current feelings or circumstances. The prize will be a fullness of joy as you serve and worship the one true God alongside other follower’s of Christ (Philippians 3:14). In doing so, you will experience pleasure as you extend your worship to someone who is entirely worthy and will never leave or forsake you.

Go and Worship!

I encourage you to read Revelation 7:9-17 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and let out a sigh of awe and relief because you know that one day you will receive the greatest gift of all: being in the complete presence of God and worshiping Him in perfect harmony. The next time you sing alongside your brothers and sisters in Christ, relish in the excitement and joy to come together.

“For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

1 Corinthians 13:12

Reflect and Connect