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93. "Who Is In Heaven"


Psalm 73:25-26, Matthew 6:9
Key verse: "Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25-26

This statement, "in heaven," leaves no doubt as to who Jesus is addressing. While "Father," can be misunderstood, since we also have earthly fathers, Jesus adds God's address, "in heaven," to eliminate any confusion. God is out of this world. He is not like us. He is above us. In appealing to Him, we are appealing to a Being beyond us.

The Psalmist helps us to see the distinction. Our hearts, our flesh will fail. As dependable as we think we may be, there is a limit to our abilities, our strength and our understanding. When God is our portion, our food, our strength and our shield, he cannot fail us because He is not made of the same, weak stuff that we are. While it is true that we are made in His image, we are only an imitation. He is the real deal, and He lives in the real world, which is heaven.

Does that surprise you? You probably thought that you were in the real world now. In truth, we are living in a less than real world. The best is yet to come. Paul says it this way. "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Cor. 13:12) Paul also assures us that, "our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." (Rom. 8:18) It's as though we experience life under water with all of its visual distortions. My, how much more clearly we see when we come to the surface and that distortion is removed! Heaven is more clear and real than that.

To think that Jesus gave up His life in that real world to walk among the shadows with us. Yet, His Father is still there and Jesus is teaching us to talk with and appeal to Him.

After all, wouldn't it just make sense that God, coming from a more real place than we now know, would Himself be the most real of all? Jesus is teaching us to talk with the most real and Holy God even though we are only shadows of what we were intended to be because of our sin. Others may fail you, but He will not. He is not as you and I. He is not capricious as the mythical Greek and Roman gods were reported to be. He is the One True God, your Father, who is "in heaven."

"Good, Good Father" 
Hear Us From Heaven

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