As much as sailors loved the sea, they were often excited when they spotted land, especially if they’d been on a long voyage. Ports were notorious places where seamen relaxed and spent their hard-earned pay. Spending time in port was a vacation for them. A place to refresh and rest up for their next voyage. Just the thought of reaching port helped these sailors endure the hardships of the journey.
Someday we all will sail into our final destination, that eternal port. It will be a place of blessed rest, a place to reap the rewards of our hard work—forever!
My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:2–3 NIV).
One day, Jesus will return and we will live with Him forever. His Word is truth, so we can trust that He will return like He said He would.
Life can be so hard at times. Sicknesses, job loss and crime are all around us. But we must never give up on our faith. We must stay strong in our beliefs so that when Jesus returns in the clouds, we can join Him.
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11 NIV).
Whenever we feel the enemy coming against us, all we need to do is hold on to God’s promises. It is important to encourage each other, to stand strong together. Christ will return one day, and we will be rewarded and be with Him forever.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 NIV).
What a glorious picture God paints for us in these passages. We will be with Christ and be reunited with loved ones who have passed on before us. So, allow these words to encourage you today. If your voyage has been hard, if storms have ravaged you, if you’re tired and weary; one day soon you’ll raise that telescope to your eye and spot that eternal port coming into view! And oh, what a day that will be!
Debbie Mitchell