"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6)

The Father who loves us -- who is loaded with mercy -- didn't just bring us to spiritual life at the moment of our salvation and send us on our way. He had a plan for our new lives. He had a spot picked out for us in heaven right next to Jesus. It's the place we were destined to sit. It's the life we were built for.

The trippy part is that it's where we live right now, spiritually speaking. In Colossians 3, Paul wrote that our lives today are "hidden" in heaven with Jesus. We don't always feel like it, but there's no doubt in God's mind that those of us who have trusted in Jesus as our only hope belong in heaven forever. What we feel -- deep down, in our core -- is a groaning, an achy longing that we'll never drown out. Paul said in Romans that it won't go away until our "adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."

On the ugly days -- when bad things happen or when we do bad things -- we need to remember we don't really live here. We don't belong here. It's a temporary address. Soon our hidden lives will be revealed, and every whiff of death will disappear.

Think: What does it mean to you to put your hope in heaven? Are you confident that's where you'll send forever?

Pray: If you've trusted in Jesus for your eternal salvation, thank God for making you spiritually alive and making a place for you in heaven with Jesus.

Do: If you haven't, yet, read Colossians 3:1-4 and Romans 8:18-25.