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Here and Beyond Devo Nov 10

by David Joynt on November 10, 2022


1 JOHN 3:2-3 | 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

This world is so tangible and real, and life beyond it can seem so vague. We learn that our next life with God and eventual life on an renewed planet will be free of pain and sorrow and suffering. We are moved by images of feasts and celebrations and our imaginations stretched to envision a place without fear or disease or evil or violence, where peace and justice reign.

One concrete way to connect here and beyond is to think of those we love restored and fully alive. This practice makes heaven an increasingly familiar place! I think of my parents, Anne and Carey, young and strong, and free of every weakness of body and soul, full of goodness and grace.

 

Is heaven becoming more familiar for you?

 

Tags: heaven, restored

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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