The Heavenly Man (1Cor. 15:49)

I don’t think about heaven enough.

Heaven is my home, my hope, my joy and yet my thoughts are filled with much less important things.

I don’t think enough about how things are supposed to be, what they were created to be or what they will look like in perfection throughout eternity. Instead I think about how things are now.



I felt led, around the end of May, to read through 1 Corinthians for my quiet times. I haven’t read through or felt called to study much of the New Testament for a while now. Books like Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel have been on my heart. Of course the NT is in my reading and studying throughout the year, but not books God has specifically impressed upon my heart. So 1 Corinthians was a fun change.

Also I kind of secretly rebel against what is mainstream; a few of which include;

boy bands,

flared jeans,
book series,

and well I hate to say it but, Paul’s letters sometimes seem to creep into my mainstream category from time to time. Thank goodness they’re from God or else I’d continue to rebel.

So anyway… mainstream Christianity is right: Paul is awesome. Not nearly as awesome as Jesus, but he’s a great guy. What amazed me in reading through 1 Corinthians is how fixed his eyes are on Jesus, heaven, and eternity.



From chapter 1 “eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,” to chapter 15 where Paul cries out Maranatha! (O Lord, come!) You see his heart for his Savior to return, his eyes fixed on Him, and his hope anchored securely in heaven. I don’t really hear this talked about much. All I hear is how wicked the Corinthians are and how Paul corrects them. What I noticed was with every correction there was a theme.


This theme included a rebuke and correction that slapped them right in the face… way too obvious for them to dismiss, ignore, or misunderstand. He spoke to them in plain and simple words (1 Cor. 1:17). But with every rebuke and correction he graciously explained why things were the way they were, and then seemed to ramble on about eternity. Well he wasn’t rambling.



You know those friends you have who seem to be able to talk about anything….forever? They talk and talk and talk, but you enjoy it. They may repeat the same few phrases but every time they speak on that topic it’s new and fresh and you love listening, you get a glimpse of their heart. You feel like you could never talk about that thing like they do and you can’t until you share that same passion and zeal. That’s what I see in Paul throughout this book.
He speaks on going to law before the unrighteous and mentions that we will judge angels in heaven, he speaks on the Lord’s Supper or Communion and mentions that we proclaim His death till He returns, and he speaks on the false assumption that there is no resurrection and begins to talk about our new bodies bearing the image of the heavenly Man.



He answers each question…sometimes we need to hear the clear, superficial answer but he also speaks of eternity and what really matters.



Oh!! I want my heart and mind FIXED on Jesus, FIXED on heaven, and FIXED on eternity. I want every thought to be on things above and I want such zeal and passion that I can’t help but “ramble” on about what really matters.