First and Foremost

If God wasn't in heaven, would you want to be there? Be honest! If we saw clearly heaven would have nothing for us without our Lord. He is the One who completes us and fulfills us.

Without Jesus Heaven would only be a lovely place without the Lover, and what is a honeymoon without the spouse?

This is how it should be for us. What does heaven have for us if it does not have Him?

Consider this John Piper quote: "People who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is the way to get people to God."

• "One thing I ask from the Lord , this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."
  - Psalms 27:4
• "I keep my eyes always on the Lord . With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."
  - Psalms 16:8-11
• "Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence." - Psalms 21:6
  Meditation: It is in God's presence that we find joy.
• "As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness." - Psalms 17:15Meditation: Our souls satisfaction lies in seeing the likeness of God.
• "I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you." - Psalms 63:2-3
  Meditation: King David saw God in His sanctuary. He beheld His power and glory. Yet, David's greatest takeaway from that incredible experience was the love of God, a love David realized was better than life itself.
  Maybe your seeking that kind of love, a love that makes life worth living. Seek it in God for in Him alone it resides.
• "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake." - Psalms 23:1-3
  Meditation: "He refreshes my soul." Not vacation, or Yoga, or relationship, or bottle, or vape, but God Himself refreshes our soul.
• “...The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body."
  - 1 Corinthians 6:13
  Meditation: You can fulfill your earthly desires but your earthly desires will never fulfill you, that is because you were meant for the Lord and the Lord is meant for you. Nothing else will truly satisfy you because nothing else was meant to satisfy you.
• "She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
  - Genesis 16:13Meditation:
  This is how it will be for us! We will finally get to see the One who has seen us all along!
  I can't imagine a more satisfying moment for the soul!
• "Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!” And all the people went up after him, playing pipes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound."
  - 1 Kings 1:39,40Meditation:
  If in Christ something greater than Solomon is here(Matthew 12:42) will not our rejoicing be greater! If they played pipes and shook the ground with joy at the anointing of an earthly king how much more will we in the reign of our heavenly King!
  I have a picture in my mind of the redeemed in Celestial Jerusalem. We are a mighty throng joyfully winding our way up the Great Street of the City to the Throne of the God of Jacob. We are dancing, and singing, playing pipes and greatly rejoicing and the gold beneath our feet shakes at the sound.