When was the last time that you prayed for the return of Jesus Christ? And I don't mean when you were participating in the worship service, but when you were alone somewhere in prayer. And if you did pray for this event, did you do so with heartfelt longing? Or, did you do so, well, because that's what Christians are supposed to do?

Hard questions, aren't they? Do you perhaps feel guilty because you don't have a sufficiently great expectation for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it perhaps true that you never think about the new world because you're quite happy in this old one?

Well, if you have to honestly say yes to these questions, you are probably in the company of a great many Christians. The Church of Jesus Christ has perhaps become somewhat complacent. Maybe it has so much fallen in love with this present world that it can't even imagine a different, better world. If you listen and observe Christians very closely, do you get the impression that they are standing on tip toe as they wait for the appearing of their Saviour?

Of course, we know and confess that heaven is real. For the Bible tells us about heaven! We pray to "our Father in heaven." We ask that His will be done on earth just "as it is already done in heaven." And every decent Christian expects to go to heaven when he dies.

And yet, do we really long for heaven? How do we really value heaven? Would we be happy to go there soon? Are we heavenly minded? Is heaven a real treasure for us?

Well, we should be "heavenly-minded."

The apostle Paul tells us to "set our minds on the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1).

The great goal of the apostle's existence is to be completely united with Christ. That's why he can even say in 2 Corinthians 4 that he would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord! And in Philemon 2, he states that his desire is to depart and "to be with Christ," for that is "far better."

So we notice that for Paul the great thing about "going to heaven" was that he would then be "with Christ." But don't we already now live with Christ? Of course, but now we live by faith in Him. We don't see Him. There is a separation. And so we would just love to live no longer by faith, but by sight, face to face with the Lord Jesus. With Paul we desire to see Christ with our own eyes – Christ in His glory, adored by men and angels, our Beautiful Saviour.

So we can already say that heaven holds fascination and commands attention only for those who know and love Christ. If you have entrusted your life to Christ as Saviour and serve Him as King, then it will be your constant desire to be with Him.

Indeed, as we grow in our life of faith and service to Jesus Christ, the time of separation from Him sometimes becomes nearly unbearable. We will often find ourselves singing, "Come Lord Jesus, Maranatha." If our desire to be with the Lord is weak, that is a bad sign. If you are in love with someone and are temporarily separated, you will spend a lot of time thinking about the great reunion. Well, so it ought to be if we love the Lord Jesus Christ.

We desire to see the Lord's glory. We may also know from Scripture that it is the Lord's desire to reveal His glory to us. In John 17, we hear the Saviour praying to His Father. He says: "Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which thou hast given me in thy love for me before the foundation of the world" (v. 24).

And not only does the Lord want us to see His glory, but He also wants us to share it! Being with Christ in His perfection means that we ourselves will be perfected. For one thing, we will be perfected in holiness. Don't you sometimes get tired of sin? No matter how hard you try, you still do what you know is wrong! Sure, you can make progress, but you don't get to the goal. This makes us sad. We are grieved because of our remaining sin. And we want the Lord to come again so that we will finally be rid of our old nature completely. At last we will be able to give the Lord the kind of loving service that He deserves! And so we pray: Come Lord Jesus and deliver me from this evil nature which I just can't shake.

Also our bodies will be perfected! When you are young and perhaps healthy, it is easy to imagine that your bodily life will go on forever. But all too soon, you will notice signs of degeneration. Youth slips by in a hurry. And then you begin to realize that your redemption is not yet complete. You start longing for the resurrection body. You want to see the Day of Christ on which He "will change our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power which enables Him even to subject all things to Himself" (Philemon 3:21).

Weightlifting can build up the body. Running can strengthen it. It's good to strive for physical fitness. But nothing we do can erase the essential weakness of the body. Our present body is just a flimsy tent, temporal and frail, vulnerable to all kinds of attacks upon it.

Only Christ can restore our physical natures. For He is a complete Saviour. Also our bodies belong to Him. He has redeemed them. And He will transform them completely so that they are fit for life in the new world. Already now, He is preparing eternal bodies for us (see 2 Corinthians 5:1-5). On the day of His coming, our present mortal bodies will be swallowed up by life!

Another motivation for us to "set our minds on the things that are above" is the pain and misery and futility in this present creation. In Romans 8, Paul hears the whole creation groaning in travail. The world labours on under the curse which God has placed upon it. Don't we all experience that every day? There is something so terribly frustrating about life under the sun today. We get trouble in our jobs. There are all kinds of "natural" disasters. Wars and unrest brew throughout the world. New diseases flourish. Farmers always have to fight the same old weeds. Hospitals are constantly full of cancer patients. Relationships so often fall apart. There is emotional suffering and bondage of many varieties. Christians are persecuted. Children are abused and violated.

Who can sum up the pain of this world? What is left of the sweetness of Paradise? The world groans! We also groan as we await the redemption of our bodies.

But Paul says that this groaning is like the groaning of a woman in labour. And the result of that painful labour is birth! A new life comes into the world.

And so we may know that right through the groaning of this present creation, through the groaning of our own bodies, through the pain of our imperfect spirits, a new world is coming! But what labouring mother-to-be doesn't long for the end of her labour? So we long for the day of Christ. We pray for the restoration of all things.

Yes, there's a new world coming. The great frustration of every believing heart will be replaced by a huge contentment. Longing will be satisfied. This present world, scene of struggle, sin, disaster, disappointment, torment, torture, war and wickedness, will become the temple of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. God will dwell with His people. Heaven and earth will be united. The age old promise of the covenant – "I will be your God and you shall be my people" – will be fulfilled.

Do you long for that?

Of course, you don't have to feel guilty about enjoying life under the sun. As long as God gives you life and a task, you can rejoice in that. But still, nothing in this life is completely satisfying. Even when you are young, you need to develop an eye for eternity. The greatest present experiences are only a short foretaste of the bliss of paradise. They just whet our appetites for the greater glory to come. How could this world satisfy us? For we are citizens of a different world. We have set our hearts on the things that are above.

Or are you being lured away from these kind of thoughts by the temptations of the world? Has the evil one convinced you that heaven can't compare with the pleasures available right now? Are you too busy to nourish your faith by reading the Bible? Are you so occupied with your own life that you never dream of praying for the glory of Christ?

Just remember: what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Fix your eyes, therefore, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.