Today’s Scripture: Psalm 50:5

“Gather to me my faithful ones.”

Sometimes when I focus too much on my own shortcomings—how often I’ve sinned, how little I’ve availed myself of all the blessings of God and opportunities that have come my way—I think I would like to somehow just slip in heaven’s side door unnoticed. But that’s because I focus too much on myself and try to anticipate my welcome on the basis of my performance.

There will be no slipping in the side door of heaven with our head hanging down and our tail between our legs. No, no, a thousand times no! Everyone who has been the object of God’s calling and election will receive a rich welcome into Christ’s eternal kingdom (2 Peter 1:10-11)—not because we deserve it, but because we’ve been clothed with the spotless robe of Christ’s righteousness. Because we are united to him who is the object of the Father’s everlasting love and delight, we also will be received as objects of his love and delight.

We see something of God’s perspective on our entrance into his eternal kingdom in Psalm 116:15: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Why is this true? We think of death as a parting. We think of “losing a loved one” through death. But from God’s perspective, the death of a believer is just the opposite. It’s a homecoming. It is precious in his sight.

Think of a World War II ship steaming into the harbor at war’s end with servicemen lining the rails. That sight was precious in the eyes of the relatives eagerly watching. And this is just a pale picture of how God anticipates the arrival “home” of his sons and daughters from our own spiritual war of this life.

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