Local news recently reported on a man who had made a long and difficult journey to Canada. He had been invited and persuaded by some of his fellow countrymen, people who had already made the same journey themselves. They told him it would be worth the difficulty of escaping a controlling regime, the troubles of making a complicated voyage, and the expense of many modes of travel. Yet when he arrived in Canada he found it had all been a scam. He learned to his sorrow that no one was waiting for him. He was not expected, he was not wanted, and he was not welcome.
Have you ever imagined what it would be like to travel from one side of the planet to the other, only to learn that you were neither expected nor wanted? Have you ever considered what it would like to sell all you own and invest it in a perilous journey, only to find that it had all been a ruse? Such was this man’s realization and this man’s sorrow.
Like that man, we have all been invited to leave behind all we hold dear in this world, or to be willing to at least. We have been invited to reorient our desires, our dreams, and our goals. We have been invited to set aside so much of what we would otherwise hold dear and to give up so much of what we are certain would bring us great satisfaction. And we do it all to gain entrance to a better place, a better land, and a better home.
But unlike that man, we have no need to fear that it will all prove a ruse. We have no need to be concerned that in the end we will have been led astray or have fallen for a trick. We have no need to fear we will come to the end of our journey and find the way barred or the reception cold.
We have no need to fear we will come to the end of our journey and find the way barred or the reception cold.
To the contrary, we can have complete confidence that the One who invited us is waiting to receive us—that he who was welcomed to the side of his Father will most certainly welcome us in the same way. Similarly, we can have complete confidence that our loved ones are waiting for us as well, for they have not most truly passed away but simply been transported from this reality to that one, from life on earth to life in heaven. And only God himself knows who else may be waiting for us, standing by to celebrate our arrival and welcome us to our new home.
It is painful to imagine traveling from one side of the earth to the other and arriving only to find that you are neither expected nor wanted. But it is sweetly encouraging to imagine traveling from one side of eternity to the other and arriving to find you are both expected and wanted, that God, his people, and his angels are already preparing to receive you with great celebration. Such is the hope and the confidence of the gospel.
