Our true, abiding home.,.
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(David Harsha, "The Savior's Ascension")
Heaven is now our true, abiding home.
While on earth we are strangers and pilgrims,
far from our final rest. And while such is our
condition here, should we not often think of
our heavenly home? Should not heaven attract
us more and more as we journey through life?
Shall we still cleave to earth, since Christ has
obtained eternal salvation for us, and passed
into the heavens to prepare a way for our entrance
into those unending joys in the presence of God?
Oh, let our best affections be placed on
those spiritual and divine things above.
Let the noblest aspirations of our minds be
after a more intimate knowledge of Jesus.
Let us look beyond this valley of tears and keep
our eyes fixed on that better country where the
Savior ever reigns in glorious majesty; where the
fountains of bliss ever flow; where the tree of
life ever spreads its delightful shade, and yields
its immortal fruits; where all is unending joy,
and love, and peace, and felicity!
Let our hearts be more and more disentangled from
the cares and temptations of the present life; let us
live in the world as those who are not of it; as those
whose treasure is in heaven, and whose hearts are
there also.
The nearer a Christian comes to heaven the
less he loves or esteems this present world.
May our affections rise heavenward, endeavoring
to bring the realities of future, eternal things more
vividly before our minds, and to realize our interest
in them.
O my soul, rise above these earthly scenes; and,
on the wings of faith, soar to the realms of the
blessed, where Jesus is enthroned in unspeakable
glory, reigning as my life, my hope, and my treasure!
Blessed Jesus, we beseech You to show us Your glory,
and to raise our hearts, our hopes, and our desires, to
that blessed world to which You have ascended. O
may our souls be daily rising, in holy thought, towards
our home where the ransomed of the Lord shall forever
obtain joy and gladness. May our thoughts become
heavenly, and our hearts be attuned to those songs with
which the arches of heaven shall resound to all eternity!
O my Savior, wean my heart from earth, and enable me
to place my affection on things above.
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