In response to 1 Corinthians 15:53, which describes the preparation of the believer’s body for everlasting rest, Puritan pastor and theologian Richard Baxter (1615–1691) mused on the extent to which the believer’s desire for the temporal – consisting of limited life and meaningless delights – seemingly outweighs their desire for the eternal rest full of heavenly blessings promised by the One who created and sustains all things.  It’s as if they linger like Lot, digging their heels into the ground and grasping at the chaff as they are pulled away into the afterlife.  Writing in The Saints’ Everlasting Rest (pub. 1649), Baxter summarized that “[i]f God enacted a law for the continuance of life until we are truly willing, heaven might be empty, and our lives on earth would be very long (Baxter, 209–222).

Baxter wrote these words centuries ago, not for or about the unrepentant soul but for Christians of his time whose love for God fell short of their love for such things as the beauty of a magnificent rose garden with colors so deep or cradling a stitched-together binding of a worn-out book with pages yellowed with age – though a hymnal it may be.  There is nothing wrong with appreciating the beauty of a garden or delicately turning a page, but how do those things compare to the marvelous wonder of the Ancient of Days?  How could one love a flower or a book more than He?  How might this be?  Did they trust His promises and cling to His guarantee?

How we think about God not only frames our entire outlook on life but also strengthens our hearts to love Him more; for when we recall what He has said:

• In the beginning, God said … (Gen 1)
• I will put enmity … (Gen 3:15)
• I will make you a great nation (Gen 12:2-3)
• I AM WHO I AM (Exod 3:14)
• I will pass over you (Exod 12:13)
• I am holy (Lev 11:44-45; 9:2; 20:26; cf. 1 Pet 1:16)
• I will make a new covenant (Jer 31:31, 33; Ezek 36:26-27; cf. Eph 2:13-14)
• I will pour out my Spirit (Joel 2:28)
• I will send my Son (John 3:16; cf. Luke 20:9-18)
• I will save you (John 3:17; cf. 1:29)
• I will come for you (John 14:1–3)
• I am with you always (Matt 28:20)
• I am making all things new (Rev 21:5)
• I will be [your] God and [you] will be My son (Rev 21:7)
• I am coming quickly (Rev 22:12)
• I am the Alpha and the Omega (Rev 22:13)

When we love Him with our whole being (Deut 6:5; Matt 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27) our only desire is to cleave; never shall we say, “Not yet”, but instead, “Come, Lord Jesus!”  Though our knowledge is incomplete (1 Cor 13:12), our faith sometimes weak (Matt 8:26; 14:31), and our love but faint (Matt 26:69–75; cf. John 21:15–17), through Christ we remain held fast in the hands of the Father who will never let go, nor shall anyone release His grasp (John 10:28–29; cf. Rom 8:39).

How could we not love more than anything the One who loves us so?