I used to think about heaven from time to time, but it didn’t regularly affect my everyday life. That all changed when my oldest son, Cam, suddenly and unexpectedly died in Christ in November 2013. After my child went to live with the Lord, heaven became a profound influence on my day-to-day perspective. It changed my life. Heaven was previously something I intellectually knew about. After Cam’s death, eternity became a driver for action, a filter through which I gauge my perspective, and a comfort—not just for major tragedy but for the ordinary disappointments of life. Heightened heavenly mindedness has given me greater contentment, provided strength to persevere in suffering, and inspired me to focus on mission and evangelism. The pain of my son’s death isn’t something I would’ve chosen, and I won’t completely outrun it in this fallen world. But the heavenward shift the Lord brought has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. Why doesn’t heaven affect most modern Christians as much as it could? Here are three reasons, along with some direction on how we can grow in heavenly mindedness. 1. We see heaven as an exclusively future state. Before my son died, I only thought about heaven as the place I’ll go when I die—what theologians call the “intermediate state”—and as the new heaven and earth Jesus will bring at the end of this age. But there’s more to heaven than these future states. The New Testament, particularly Paul’s letters and the Gospels, characterize Christ’s first coming as the arrival of heaven on earth in the present. The Old Testament pointed to the end-times “day of the LORD” and the age to come as its heavenly expectation (Joel 2:1–11; Zeph. 1:14–18). The day of the Lord marked God’s coming to earth to purify the world of evil and bring justice to his enemies. The age to come, the period when heaven inhabits the earth, would follow the day of the Lord. Heightened heavenly mindedness has given me greater contentment, provided strength to persevere in suffering, and inspired me to focus on mission and evangelism. Paul’s letters identify Christ’s first coming as a partial installment of the day of the Lord. In 2 Corinthians 6:2, Paul writes, “For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (emphasis mine). Since the divine visitation first occurred when God came in the incarnate Jesus, the age to come has been initiated. Heaven dwells on the earth. This doesn’t mean the “present evil age” has concluded (Gal. 1:4); that will end with Christ’s second coming. Nevertheless, heaven is here. When a person puts his faith in Jesus, there’s a shift in his spiritual location. In Colossians 1:13, Paul says believers now dwell in the heavenly realm: “[God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” When Paul says “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20), he’s speaking in present terms. While we still physically live in sinful flesh and on this fallen earth, we also dwell spiritually in the kingdom of heaven. Even now, we have present access to the “spiritual blessings in the heavenly places” through our union with Christ (Eph. 1:3). Certainly our sin and the struggles of this present evil age still create difficulty and pain. At the same time, the rich spiritual blessings of heaven bring deep, rich joy to our day-to-day lives. 2. We have uninformed and unbiblical ideas about heaven. When I began to research heaven, I was astonished to find that “heavenly visitation” books constitute the majority of recent literature on the afterlife. I’ve observed a number of people turn to books like these, where a person relates a near-death experience, after the death of a loved one. Many modern Christians see such books as authoritative theological accounts of what heaven will be like. I’d discourage people from investing time with heavenly visitation books when the Scriptures provide the absolute truth on what we can expect in the life to come. The truth revealed in the Bible (and in books that explain what the Bible tells us about heaven) far exceeds people’s subjective accounts. Randy Alcorn’s Heaven, Joni Eareckson Tada’s Heaven: Your Real Home from a Higher Perspective, and my book Heavenward: How Eternity Can Change Your Life on Earth are all good resources to help you build a solidly biblical perspective on heaven. A quality commentary like Vern Poythress’s The Returning King will make the book of Revelation less intimidating and enhance your knowledge of the afterlife. Heaven can only affect our lives if we base our views on the truth. Having a biblically centered, personal theology of heaven grounds our mindset about eternity in verifiable substance. 3. We treat heaven as an impersonal abstraction. A problem in modern theology is that Christians tend to depersonalize theological realities. For example, many have reduced the gospel to merely a transaction: Jesus died. We repent and believe. Eternal salvation is credited to our spiritual bank account. Credentials acquired. Clearance granted at the pearly gates. This falls far short of the Bible’s holistic, personal perspective: We were personally identified with Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection. God’s Spirit dwells within our hearts. We’re united with Christ and find abundant life in fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit. Our justification before God comes as part of the relational realities of our regeneration and adoption and the promise of our sanctification and ultimate resurrection.  While we still physically live in sinful flesh and on this fallen earth, we also dwell spiritually in the kingdom of heaven. Heaven has befallen a similar depersonalization. We tend to think about heaven’s features, like golden streets and pearly gates, or about the experience there (freedom from suffering, total euphoria, and so on) before we think about the center of heaven’s promise: Jesus. Heaven became personal for me when my child went to live there. And as I studied and explored the realities of heaven, I grew in my relationship with Christ, the King of heaven, as well. What makes heaven heaven is Jesus. We’ll experience unfettered communion with him there. We’ll behold the face-to-face vision of God in his glory. That’s what makes heaven so euphorically wonderful. Understanding heaven in these personal terms moves us toward deeper fellowship with Jesus and enhances our relationship with him in the present life. When heaven is depersonalized, it becomes merely hypothetical and abstract. Consequently, heaven has little influence on our lives because it doesn’t feel real. To grow in heavenly mindedness doesn’t just mean you intellectually know more about heaven. It means eternity has a discernible effect on your mood, perspective, and actions. In his essay “The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death,” Howard Thurman described the critical role heavenly mindedness played in the survival and perseverance of American slaves. Thurman talked about the concrete view of heaven contained in their songs: Heaven was specific! An orderly series of events was thought to take place. . . . A crown, a personal crown is given. . . . There are mansions. . . . There are robes. Their theology of heaven was concrete and individual. A heavenly imagination that flowed out of Scripture nurtured this eternal sustenance. Heaven will have greater significance and meaning in our day-to-day lives when we view it as both a real and a personal reality. We can employ our heavenly imagination within Scripture’s bounds to move in that direction. Having a biblically centered, personal theology of heaven grounds our mindset about eternity in verifiable substance. What will it be like to have a body that doesn’t experience back pain, acid reflux, or migraines? What will it be like to have conversations with Martin Luther, the apostle Paul, or your brother who died before you knew him? What will it be like not to walk by faith because you live with Jesus in plain sight every day? What will it be like to never experience temptation or falter in sin again? What will it be like to explore the new earth without limitation or expense? Using our sanctified imaginations in this way reminds us heaven is real and meaningful and that its reality should influence our lives. In my life, these changes have taken various forms. I have more courage to say hard things and to share the gospel when it may feel awkward. Life on earth is too short and eternity far too long to let awkwardness or discomfort stand in the way of faithfulness. Heaven has shaped my moral and ethical thinking. When I’m tempted to be self-indulgent or to act out of anger and pettiness, knowing I won’t act this way in heaven compels me to resist sin in this life. When I remember that perfect, unfettered communion with Jesus is what will make heaven so glorious, I’m reminded to stop and pursue intimate fellowship with him now as the path to contentment. Heavenly mindedness can bless us with great satisfaction, endurance, perspective, inspiration, and focus. Learning more about eternity and asking the Holy Spirit to cultivate heavenly minded thinking can radically transform your life. It certainly has transformed mine.

A pebbled mosaic floor with a central scene of two satyrs has been unearthed in Eretria, southeastern Greece. The floor is part of a house from the Late Classical period and dates to around the middle of the 4th century B.C. Eretria was founded in the Greek Dark Ages, so early that it even ranks a mention in Homer’s Illiad as one of the cities who sent ships to fight against Troy. Thanks to its success in trade, it was a regional power by the 8th century B.C., controlling Aegean islands, territories in central Greece and founding colonies on the northern Aegean coast, mainland Italy and Sicily. The prosperity of the city was reflected in the luxury of the private homes that began the appear in Eretria in the 4th century B.C. They were designed in the classical style with a central peristyle courtyard surrounded by the private rooms of the family and public areas where guests were welcomed on official occasions and celebrations. The remains of the recently-discovered house were found during installation of a new water pipeline in the center of the ancient city where other important ancient remains have been found, including the sanctuary of Apollo Daphniforos, the Quarter of the Panathenaic Amphorae and the House of the Mosaics. The latter also dates to the 4th century B.C (ca. 360-350 B.C.) and as its name suggests, contains mosaic floors made in a similar pebbled style. The excavation uncovered a room just under 12 feet square with surviving walls on the south and east sides. The floor was covered with small, white natural pebbles. In the center of the room is a circular medallion with small black pebbles as the background. Against the black backdrop are two nude satyrs with goat tails, pointed ears and horns. One is a beardless youth playing the double flute; the other is older, bearded and in motion, likely dancing to the music. The details of their faces and bodies are highlighted with pebbles in red and yellow as well as white and black, while both of the satyrs’ hair were rendered with the yellow pebbles. A raised floor about an inch high was unearthed along the north and east sides of the room. This feature, found in other houses from the period in Eretria, was a platform where reclining couches were placed, identifying the room as a banqueting space. This dovetails with the motif of performing satyrs in the middle of the floor, as these rooms were used for celebrations, gatherings and entertainments. The floor and structure of the house were disturbed in the early Christian era (5th-6th c. A.D.) when the abandoned dwelling was used as a cemetery. Five tombs were found there, one your basic pit tomb, the other with ceramic tile roofs. They had been dug into the embankment of the house and disturbed the mosaic floor. Another five tombs (again four with ceramic roofs, one pit) were found just outside the room on the other side of the south wall. The floor has been temporarily covered for its protection while the water pipeline is redesigned so it does not interfere with the discovery.

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A Prayer for When Storms AriseBy Kyle Norman "A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was swamped. Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said, "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?" (Mark 4:37-38) When was the last time that you were in a storm? Did you enjoy it? Did you find it inspiring and beautiful? I doubt it. When you are inside, watching a storm from the safety of your living room, a storm can be fun to watch; it can feel magnificent and awesome, but when you are caught in the middle of a storm, it's a whole other matter. Whether you are walking along a roadway, driving in your car with your windshield wipers struggling to keep up with the rain, or stuck in a boat in the middle of a lake, storms feel threatening and overbearing. The disciples experience this very thing. Jesus had been teaching beside Lake Gennesaret for hours. As night approached, Jesus invited the disciples to journey with him to the other side of the lake. They welcomed this invitation. Not only was it a rest from the demands of ministry, but finally, they would be able to spend some alone time with Jesus. As they sail across the lake, Jesus, tired from the day of teaching and healing, falls asleep in the stern. This wouldn't have been a problem except for the storm that erupted around them. Let's not downplay this scene. The storm wasn't gentle or understated. The wind didn't just blow a bit beyond their comfort, and the waves weren't just "a little choppy." No, this was an intense and almost violent storm. Waves crashed over the sides of the boat, and the wind howled around them. The disciples struggled to keep the boat steady. And through it all, Jesus slept. We don't know how long the disciples struggled with the storm for, or how long Jesus was left sleeping, but we do know that at one point, the disciples began to feel abandoned by their Lord. They felt they were facing the storm alone, and so they woke Jesus and said, "Teacher, don't you care that we are perishing?" "Jesus, aren't you concerned about what we are facing?" Jesus, don't you care about us?"  Have you ever echoed those statements? I'm sure, in some way, we all have. It's natural to question where Christ's power is when the storms of life erupt against us. Maybe it's a diagnosis, maybe a job loss, a relational breakdown, or something else altogether, but when such storms occur, we can find ourselves struggling just to exist in the moment. All our energy, all our resolve, and all our faith are spent trying to avoid being swallowed up by the storm that blows hard against us.  If you have ever been in such a storm and have found these questions going through your mind, don't condemn yourself – you are just doing what all disciples do from time to time. But try to remember that beyond the furor of the storm, Jesus remains. See, Jesus is asleep, not be because he is unconcerned about the disciples, but because he is unconcerned about the storm. The Lord of life remains in the boat, and because Jesus is with us, we can be confident there is no wind strong enough to blow us off course. There is no wave big enough that will drown out the Lord's presence. What the disciples perceived as divine rejection was steadfast resilience rooted in Christ's presence. As the event progresses, Jesus calms the wind and waves by a single command. But he quiets the waves, not to prove that he can make the storm go away, but to show that he can be trusted when the storm seems to remain. Jesus proves his presence is what we need for any storm that we experience.  True, Jesus might not stop the storm from coming upon us. Winds may blow, and waves may crash, and that can be difficult to experience. But Jesus remains in the storm-riddled boat along with us. Given that, we have a choice as to what we focus on. We can focus on the wind and the waves and the furious squall erupting around us. Or we can focus on the presence of the Lord. And while we may not always see what he is up to, the fact that he is in the boat with us makes all the difference.  Let's pray: Gracious God, our Protector, our Defender, and our Savior.Storms can so often rage about us and cause us to be afraid. Without warning, they erupt over us, causing us to fear. Lord, protect me from despair and deliver me from all my fear. I pray that you strengthen my resolve to stand in your presence during the storms of my life. Preserve me from unbelief and strengthen my faith. And in those times when I am tempted to question your presence or your activity in my life, open my eyes to see you; open my heart to receive your calm. This I pray through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen. ** This prayer is based on the Collect for the Proper 12 from the Anglican Church of Canada. Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/whiteson The Reverend Dr. Kyle Norman is the Rector of St. Paul's Cathedral, located in Kamloops BC, Canada.  He holds a doctorate in Spiritual formation and is a sought-after writer, speaker, and retreat leader. His writing can be found at Christianity.com, crosswalk.com, ibelieve.com, Renovare Canada, and many others.  He also maintains his own blog revkylenorman.ca.  He has 20 years of pastoral experience, and his ministry focuses on helping people overcome times of spiritual discouragement. Related Resource: Remember God’s Enduring Love for You in this Guided Meditation on Psalm 100! This guided Christian meditation from Psalm 100 will help you experience and praise God for his unending love for you. Become aware of God's presence with you, and praise God for his loyal and enduring love from the beginning of time and into the future. Listen to every episode of the So Much More Podcast on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an episode! Now that you’ve prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below! Visit iBelieve.com for more inspiring prayer content. The post A Prayer for When Storms Arise – Your Daily Prayer – August 4 appeared first on GodUpdates.

The dust has barely settled on Wacken 2024, but tickets for next year's event will go on sale today