A reflection for the journey of faith — sometimes we all need a little light for the way.
What do you do with a bunch of old sermons? Turn them into a blog – refined, condensed, made for today’s world – I pray that it will speak to you today! Or feel free to use it as a little inspiration for your own message. It’s FOR YOU! (Scroll down for previous posts)
Sunday July 26 – Ninth Sunday after Pentecost/Lectionary 17
1 Kings 3:5-12
Psalm 119:129-136
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-22, 44-52
Heaven Is Closer Than You Think
Complete this sentence:
Heaven to me is like…
How would you finish it?
Perhaps it’s a small house on the beach where the only sound is the waves rolling in while you sip coffee on the deck. Maybe it’s a quiet cabin in the mountains or a little fishing place in Canada where the lake is calm and time slows down.
Maybe heaven is a hot fudge sundae with extra whipped cream.
Maybe it’s finally seeing loved ones who have gone before us.
Or, if you’re a long-suffering football fan, maybe it’s the Minnesota Vikings winning the Super Bowl.
When most of us think about heaven, we imagine a future destination—a place we’ll someday arrive after this life is over.
Jesus seems to have something much bigger in mind.
In Matthew’s Gospel, heaven isn’t described with pearly gates or streets of gold. Instead, Jesus talks about mustard seeds, yeast mixed into dough, hidden treasure, priceless pearls, and fishing nets overflowing with fish.
At first glance, it feels like an odd collection of images. But together they paint a beautiful picture of what God’s kingdom is really like.
Heaven begins here.
When Jesus began his public ministry, his first sermon was remarkably simple:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4:17)
Repentance isn’t primarily about feeling guilty. The word means to turn—to turn our hearts, our minds, and our lives toward God.
Jesus wasn’t simply pointing people toward life after death. He was announcing that God’s reign had already broken into the world. Heaven had come near.
That means we don’t have to wait until someday to experience God’s presence. We begin living in God’s kingdom the moment we entrust ourselves to God’s love.
It starts small.
Jesus compares the kingdom to a mustard seed.
Tiny.
Almost insignificant.
Yet it grows into something far larger than anyone expects.
Then he compares it to yeast hidden in flour. You can hardly see it, but it quietly transforms an entire batch of dough from the inside out.
That’s often how faith works.
We wish for dramatic moments and instant answers. Instead, God usually works slowly, patiently, almost invisibly.
A conversation.
A prayer whispered through tears.
A Scripture verse that refuses to leave us alone.
A small act of forgiveness.
A quiet moment of peace in the middle of anxiety.
None of those things seem very impressive on their own. But over time, they reshape a life.
If you’re wondering where God is today—if you’re carrying grief, uncertainty, regret, or exhaustion—don’t assume nothing is happening.
Seeds grow underground long before anyone sees green shoots above the soil.
God often does God’s deepest work where we cannot yet see it.
The Spirit prays when we cannot.
That is why I treasure Paul’s words in Romans 8.
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness… the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”
There are seasons when we don’t know what to pray.
Sometimes we don’t even have words.
We’ve all had moments when pain, fear, or disappointment leave us speechless.
Paul reminds us that even then, we are not alone.
God’s Spirit is already praying within us.
Even our silence becomes prayer.
You are worth more than you know.
Jesus then tells two brief parables.
Someone discovers treasure hidden in a field and gladly gives up everything to possess it.
A merchant searching for pearls finally finds one of extraordinary value and sells everything else to obtain it.
Christians have understood these stories in different ways over the centuries. One beautiful way of hearing them is this:
What if the treasure is you?
What if the pearl of great price is every beloved child of God?
After all, that is exactly what the Gospel tells us.
God considered humanity so precious that Christ gave everything out of love for us.
As Paul asks,
“If God is for us, who is against us?… He who did not withhold his own Son… will he not with him also give us everything else?”
Our value isn’t determined by our accomplishments, our failures, our age, our health, or what others think of us.
Our value comes from the One who loves us beyond measure.
Held by love.
So let me ask again.
Heaven to me is like…
These days, I might answer:
Heaven is like being held.
Held by a God who knows my every fear.
Held by a Savior who understands suffering.
Held by the One who promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
That doesn’t mean life suddenly becomes easy.
But it does mean we never face it alone.
And perhaps that’s what the kingdom of heaven feels like.
Not escaping this world, but discovering that God’s love is already present within it.
Paul ends Romans 8 with words that have carried countless people through grief, illness, uncertainty, and loss:
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come… nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The kingdom of heaven has come near.
Closer than you think.
Closer than your next breath.
And wherever you are today, God is already holding on to you.
God's Yes + My Amen 