How can we describe the days after Christmas? All we have focused on for several weeks is now over. “The Most Wonderful time of the Year,” as the song calls, is now past. What comes next? Three months of cold and darkness. Going through our obligations and responsibilities weary day after weary day. What do we have to look forward to now that Christmas is past? Spring is too far away to get excited about. We just settle in and plod along. We have our Christmas memories but they often don’t last much longer than the clean-up period we all face. Of course there’s new bills to pay, so we must get up and go to work each day.
What contrast there is between the day before Christmas and the day after Christmas, between December 24 and December 26. On December 26 there are no parties are scheduled, no great celebrations are being held. Yet we accept it for we know that all good things must end, that everything comes to a conclusion.
But there is one exception to that rule – heaven! There the celebration will never end. There will never be a “day after Christmas” in heaven – never a letdown or a weary plodding on. Maybe in Narnia it was always winter but never Christmas, but in heaven it will be always Christmas but never winter. It will be December 25 all year long, and it will never get old or stale. Each day in heaven will be like our first day all over again. Each day will be as perfect as it can be, yet somehow better than the one before it. No, all good things must not come to an end. Christmas on earth may, but eternity in heaven never will. Imagine, always December 25 and never December 26! (December 28, 2015 Doylestown, PA)
Revelation 22:1-5 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Why do you think God talks about heaven so much in the Bible? Because He wants us to think about it and anticipate all eternity with Him! That will keep things on this earth in their proper eternal perspective. Write the word “Heaven” on a not and put a not somewhere where you will see it several times a day to remind yourself as you go through this Jan-you-weary time of the year and of life in general that this is temporary and will soon be gone forever.