Getting an upgrade, whether it is with a phone, a flight, a hotel room, or something else, can be a moment of great joy.

Some time ago I lived in a community in India. We lived in typical Indian accommodation on an Indian budget. We ate rice three meals a day except for the times when money was short and we had to fast for a period. I used a squat toilet and showered with cold water from a bucket. I slept on a mat on a tiled floor or shared a single bed. 

After six months in India I was required to leave the country to renew my visa. A friend of mine was living in the Maldives at the time so I took the opportunity to visit her there for my visa run. Cue paradise… white sandy beaches, crystal blue and turquoise water, freshly caught seafood and tropical fruits in abundance. As I took a hot bath for the first time in six months I felt elation. This was an upgrade worth writing home about. Yet even as I enjoyed these luxuries their impending end weighed heavy upon me. I counted down the days and hours I had left in paradise with a pit of dread in my stomach. 

That’s the thing with upgrades, they either end or become obsolete. The flight lands, the phone is superseded, the holiday in paradise finishes. But there is one upgrade that will never end or be outmoded – heaven.

The Bible says that God has “set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). As we swim in the waters of upgrade culture and find ourselves on an unceasing quest for the better, smarter, prettier, more luxurious, we are actually longing for the eternal paradise we were created for by God. The Bible describes heaven as a place of stunning beauty. A place of abundance. A place without suffering of any kind. And above all a place of perfect loving relationships with God and each other (Revelation 21-22). Whatever perfections or paradises you are seeking, heaven surpasses them all.

This upgrade is offered freely to all who come before God humbly admitting their rebellion against him and trusting in their forgiveness through Jesus. 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Secure your ultimate forever upgrade today!

PRAYER

Dear God, I long for the perfection and paradise you promise in the Bible. I’m sorry I have tried to find it without you and ignored your claim on my life. Please forgive me through Jesus. Amen.