A Spectacle Of Glory #165

Read: Hebrews 12:2-3

I wake up each morning with eternity in my crosshairs. I have my sights on heaven. It’s what keeps me going. True, nearly fifty years of living in a wheelchair is incredibly challenging—especially at my age. But I’m a little like Jesus who, as today’s Scripture tells us, for the joy set before Him endured His cross. So, should I not endure mine? Especially when I consider the joy that is awaiting me, the happiness that my response to my wheelchair is accruing for me.

Look, friend, the Bible says your afflictions are winning for you a rich reward in heaven.^a That means every time you muster a godly response to your trials, your eternal joy becomes weightier, bigger, happier, and much more glorious. The old Puritan Thomas Manton once wrote that a man’s “greatest care should be for that place where he lives longest.”^b So join me in setting your sights on heaven and living for joy.

Father, give me a clearer idea of how grand and glorious heavenly joy really is. Show me Your gladness so I might better bear my sadness; reveal to me Your happiness so I might embrace my hardships; infuse into my heart Your joy so I can take up my cross daily and smile.