The Front Row of Heaven

     Right now our teeny-weeny congregation is fixing up an apartment at the church so that our children's pastor, Nancy Westerberg, will have a place to live. Nancy is in her 70's and for over thirty years, she has led a puppet ministry from our congregation that has mobilized children and adults to minister at nursing homes to the infirm and elderly. She has also visited these homes every week for years. Her ministry to the children has produced some of the finest Christians who have grown into mature adults who love Jesus and have her values. She has also ministered to numerous "brats" that wandered through the mix and left completely unchanged. For this, she deserve the "congregational medal of honor!" Nancy has done all this without any notoriety and because she loves Jesus. She doesn't charge the nursing homes for her services, she does it to lavish love on Jesus. Nancy was widowed more than six years ago and her children are either far away or are unable to care for her.

Nancy has lived in a small house which is now in a neighborhood that is becoming unsafe. (Last week someone broke into the house next door in broad daylight!) Our teeny weeny church cannot support more than one employee any more, so we are doing what we can and carving out a place for her to live in our church building. She will be safe there, and because she is one of God's "temple treasures," she belongs there.

I have often teased Nancy saying, "You will be on the 'front row' in heaven, and I will be in the 'parking lot' with binoculars." I don't know that the concept of a "front row" in heaven is biblically sound. However, it's my way of saying that God's ability to see in secret and reward openly will extend far beyond ours. The values of God's Kingdom are the total reverse of this world's, even the church world's. I believe that heaven will be a major shock to most of us. You will probably be rewarded for things that you never dreamed God saw, and the things you thought God would surely see may not have attracted His gaze at all.

Sometimes I do things from mixed motives, but the things I enjoy doing the most are the ones that are done out of love and in secret? I cannot even evaluate them in the same way God does, but I am learning to live life in view of eternity. It's about time, wouldn't you say? When you live life in view of eternity, you live it knowing that God is watching. It's important to honor the people around you who are humble and who you know that God will honor. How awful to arrive in heaven and realize that you failed to acknowledge humble servants around you who served faithfully without your notice! What if God will be honoring those whom you ignored or even had contempt for?

Before you experience the humiliation of Hamaan, maybe it's time to look around you and ask God to give you His eyes to see the acts of kindness done in humility and love the "regular" people around you are demonstrating without hope of earthly reward or notice. And why not try to become more like those people and become a blessing to them. Perhaps, if you notice them, they will see it as God giving them a tiny deposit of their reward in heaven.

I'm not sure what sort of reward awaits us in heaven. I think God has made it clear that he wants it to be a surprise. I doubt that it is "stuff" like shopping money or fancy houses as we know them here. Maybe it's something as simple as proximity to Jesus which must be the most pleasurable of all experiences. I've always thought that I probably won't be on the front row of heaven. More likely, I'll be in the "parking lot" with binoculars! (If I am, I will be having a tailgate party.) Before you have to join me, try burying yourself in your normal life and doing things that only God sees. This is the path to real joy and contentment, the one Jesus taught. 

By the way, if you believe the Lord is leading you to contribute to the fund to fix up Nancy's apartment, you can contribute to this fund by making out your check to River City Church of Pittsburgh and designating it to "building fund" at the bottom. Mail it to RCCOP, 330 Edgewood Ave, Trafford, PA 15085. Any freewill gifts will be deeply appreciated here on earth and undoubtedly rewarded in heaven and also tax deductible!