Suitcase to Heaven

We’re travelers in this world. This is not meant to be our permanent home because our flesh dies and our soul goes on. Worldly attractions don’t provide everlasting joy. We want that which is finite to quench, dismissing the fact that only the infinite presence of God can fill our vacant souls. Jesus warned us to look towards Heaven instead of collecting treasures on earth: “‘Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in Heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.’” (Matthew 6:20) Jesus knew that fulfillment on earth was futile by storing earthly treasures. Jesus warned us that we should let Him occupy our hearts more than worldly possessions. Treasures on earth are tantalizers that can’t fulfill our souls. We simply borrow treasures from God to lead us into our journey towards His loving embrace. God grant us gifts, such as treasures of loving relationships, smiles of children, and snow falling softly on the ground. His favors are blessings of having special talents, food and shelters, or cure for diseases. God’s blessings are given to us for our use and spiritual enrichment, not for us to be consumed by them. Blessings are not meant to be our goals or obsessions. Blessings don’t fulfill the void. Blessings are meant to lead us into spiritual growth and closer to Jesus. But when we make blessings the fulfillment of our internal void, unhappiness settles in, and emptiness perpetuates. That’s because we become consumed with the blessings instead of the Blessor. If we depend on the blessings to make us happy more than the Provider, we squeeze the Lord out of our hearts. Once that happens, the void grows deeper because we start loving the things of this world more than the Lord. Our hearts were not created by God to be consumed by the world. God designed our hearts to enhance our walk towards His eternity. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV) If we allow the Lord to occupy the center of our hearts, then the void will be filled as Jesus said: “‘Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (John 7:37-38) Have you noticed that all humans are born and die with a void unless they choose to drink from the rivers of living water? I remember when I was thirsty for the living water because I felt a great void inside me. Nothing completed me and I found everything utterly meaningless (Ecclesiastes 1). I was only thirteen years old when I looked out from the back porch of my parents’ house and admired the day losing its strength. Beautiful shades of yellow, orange, and pink painted the sky against the silhouette of the hills of the Brazilian tropical Rain Forest. The sun descended below the horizon, as my heart fell into sadness and loneliness. I lived in the silence of my fears. I needed a sense of hope and safety. I needed something infinite, permanent, and dependable. I needed something stable and unchangeable. I needed an unbreakable love which could fill my emptiness. I thought I was alone. I thought my void could not be filled. But God called me to a sunset. And that particular sunset was not like any other sunset. God enticed me to the beauty of His peace. God called my attention to His loving face. At that moment, something changed inside me. My emptiness was suddenly filled with His living water. That unexpected and unannounced moment rekindled me with God’s loving Spirit. That extraordinary moment became engraved in my soul forever. As my faith in the Lord grew, I began working my salvation (see Philippians 2:12). I realized that I was just a traveler in this planet. During my travelling, I began filling my spiritual Suitcase to Heaven. Not with souvenirs of different cities, but heavenly souvenirs. Every experience and trial that Jesus allowed in my life became an opportunity to add more souvenirs into my suitcase to my permanent home, Heaven. I share in this book, my transformations through tribulations, and how I turned to Jesus in hardships. Everything I gained, and everything I lost in this world brought me closer to Him by filling my void with spiritual gifts. Every heartbreak, pain, and sorrow became jewels in my path to God. I was of this world but never drowned by it, because I became not of this world (see Romans 12:2). I share in this book some of the heavenly souvenirs that I have been collecting throughout the years which are now inside of my spiritual Suitcase to Heaven. Traveler, what souvenirs have you been collecting in your spiritual Suitcase to Heaven?