The older I get the more I realize I have fewer tomorrows than yesterdays. My dad always told me life was short and I realize that now. The Bible reminds us that our days are numbered — “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalms 90:12).

I have been to many funerals in my lifetime and quite often this passage in John 14 is quoted. The intent of sharing this Scripture at a funeral is to comfort the family and friends of the person who has passed away. If the person was a Christian and had given their life to Christ, they are with Jesus in Heaven. Jesus knew where He was going. He was going to be with God and He wanted to comfort His Apostles by telling them that they will one day be where He is, with God the Father.

The Bible teaches that in the very beginning God had a loving relationship with humans who were to rule on the earth as they multiplied His glorious image. In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God created the entire world from nothing and then He created man and woman in that image with the glorious capacity to relate to Him. God was pleased with what He created and commanded mankind to follow His instructions so that their relationship with God would be eternally and perfectly maintained. God gave them free will to choose whether to follow Him. Tragically, Adam and Eve sinned when tempted by Satan in the Garden of Eden. The perfect relationship God had with mankind and the rest of creation was made imperfect because of sin, and mankind’s ability to reflect God’s glory was lost.

When sin entered the world, it created a separation between God and man. All natural disasters and the deterioration of planet Earth, along with every kind of evil in the world, are a result of sin. Consequently, all of us are born with a sin nature, naturally inglorious in character and action, and are separated from God the Father. Note the second line of that oft quoted verse: “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

God knew sin would enter His perfect world and had a plan “before the foundation of the earth” to make the relationship with mankind perfect again. Just as God provided clothing for Adam and Eve through the death of innocent animals, so sin would be paid for through the blood of His Son Jesus. The entire Bible teaches us that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. God wants us to accept the shed blood of Jesus as our sin payment and follow Him as Lord and Savior so one day we can be with Him in the new heaven and earth. Our relationship with God cannot be restored by doing good deeds or trying to be a good person; it is only by God’s grace and mercy through Jesus’s payment for sin that our relationship with God is rebuilt. Symbolically, just as Adam and Eve were clothed by the death of innocent animals, so we must “put on Christ” to be clothed and have our moral nakedness covered (Romans 13:14).

Jesus reminded his Disciples to let their hearts not be troubled — that instead He had a plan. Jesus said in John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus knew this world had trouble in it, and He was teaching them that when He leaves this world, He would make sure they had a perfect place to go. Jesus assures us that He has a perfectly planned place for us in Heaven with God the Father. It is a place that is both real and beyond our imagination. The Apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 that “‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived’ what God has prepared for those who love him.”

So do not let your heart be troubled. God has taken care of everything. He is ready and waiting for your arrival. He has prepared a beautiful place for you on that glorious day when you take your last breath on this earth. You will awake in the presence of God the Father and Jesus his Son in a real place that He has prepared.

Do you have this hope? Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?