Are you more intrigued with earth than heaven?
Let me rephrase the question: How fascinated are you with heaven?
The temptation is to answer this question with what we know to be the correct Sunday School answer: "Well, of course, I'm looking forward to heaven."
But there’s a foolproof way to know the truth.
Your praying (and mine) tells the real story.
Attend your church's prayer meeting, and what are most of the requests you hear? We pray for physical healing, well-being, jobs, houses—that sort of thing. Most of it is temporary in nature.
But look at all the prayers in the New Testament. Overwhelmingly, they are not about temporal problems—the stuff we tend to focus on.
- In Ephesians 1:18, Paul prays “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
- In Philippians 1:9, the request is ‘that your love may overflow still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.”
- In 2 Thessalonians 3:1, Paul prays “that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it was also with you.”
Hear me clearly—you won't hear me or Scripture suggesting you should never pray for sick people—quite the contrary. We should!
I’m simply pointing out that our prayers are generally too focused on temporal things. How often do we pray for:
- The revival of the church in America
- The persecuted Church around the globe
- The salvation of our leaders, family members, and friends.
When was the last time your small group prayed for perseverance or endurance? When was the last time you prayed for your state's governor by name—asking for their salvation?
When our fascination is heaven, we’ll pray mostly about eternal things.
When our fascination is earth, we’ll pray mostly about earthly things.
What fascinates YOU?
Your prayers say everything.
