THE VISION FOR YONDER

When my paternal grandmother transited to glory, it was pertinent we bury her in the village. I have been there severally and even spent considerable time there. However, my wife and children hadn't visited my hometown before the burial. All I made to them were promises of "some day, we shall visit". The opportunity of burial came and they anticipated the journey greatly. My children spoke about the journey almost daily because their hearts has already moved from Lagos, all I was seeing was their bodies. The same applies to anyone who wants to travel to a destination where he hasn't been to, there's always an eagerness and anticipation. The thinking will shift from the present environment to the next destination. Sometimes, children may refuse to eat on the day of a much anticipated journey because their hearts has moved, food becomes irrelevant and secondary at that moment.

As believers, our mind must be occupied with the thoughts of our real home. We must long for it daily. The opening text says, "Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God". His mind was not fixated on the cities of the earth because his vision was for yonder. Often, we downplay our heavenly home when we make statements like, "don't be heavenly conscious and irrelevant on earth". Hear this, it is impossible to be heavenly conscious and irrelevant on earth if the person understand scriptures. It is our vision for yonder that will stir us to be relevant on earth so that we can manifest kingdom wisdom, power and glory, and bring others along with us to eternity with Jesus. The vision for yonder is a catalyst for holy living, evangelism&missions, compassion for the brethren and care for humanity.

I once read in an article that after the generation of apostle John, the writer of Revelation, the church had a practice of reading the book of revelation every service because they don't want to lose the vision for yonder. Apostle Paul said, "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth", Col 3:1-2 NLT. Don't wait till you attend a funeral before thinking about heaven. The only time some desire yonder is when they sing heaven related hymns. You must find a way to sustain the vision daily as it will help you in your daily conduct in preparation for your flight there.