Our Heavenly Abode: Part of God's Goodness

          By A. W. Tozer

    . . . We have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
     eternal in the heavens.                             -- 2 Corinthians 5:1
 

         The true Christian may safely look forward to a future state
     that is as happy as perfect love wills it to be!

         No one who has felt the weight of his own sin or heard
     from Calvary the Saviour's mournful cry, "My God, my
     God, why hast thou forsaken me?" can ever allow his
     soul to rest on the feeble hope popular religion affords.

         He will -- indeed, he must -- insist upon forgiveness
     and cleansing and the protection the vicarious death of
     Christ provides.

         "God has made him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
     that we might be made the righteousness of God in
     him."  So wrote Paul, and Luther's great outburst of
     faith shows what this can mean in a human soul:
     "0 Lord," cried Luther, "Thou art my righteousness,
     I am Thy sin!"

         Any valid hope of a state of righteousness beyond the
     incident of death must lie in the goodness of God and
     the work of atonement accomplished for us by Jesus
     Christ on the cross.  The deep, deep love of God is the
     fountain out of which flows our future beatitude, and
     the grace of God in Christ is the channel by which it
     reaches us!

     Even justice is on our side, for it is written, "If we
     confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
     us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
     unrighteousness."
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     Yours in Christ,
     Paul N. F.