As we age, the list of our friends in heaven will continue to grow. There are people we look forward to seeing again in heaven. There are many brothers and sisters in Christ who invest their time in our spiritual lives, and they are likely the people we are most grateful for today.

The author of this proverb spoke about the gifts we receive in this lifetime that we are grateful for. “Oil and perfume” can be defined as the finer things in this world that we are always thankful to receive. A great gift makes our lives sweeter and our hearts glad. The greatest gifts make our hearts and lives stronger. The proverb says, “The sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.” 

Sometimes we are afraid to tell our friends the whole truth, even when they most need it. Earnest counsel must come from an earnest counselor, a person who deeply cares about God’s work and will in your life.

To have friends who truly want to help strengthen our walk with God is a great blessing. A friend who deeply cares about God can offer us God’s care. That friend’s “word of counsel” is often important advice and God’s great blessing for our lives.

A good friend’s counsel is sweet, earnest, and intended to be our best help. A good friend is one of God’s richest blessings on earth.

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. It is fun to receive gifts from people we care about, but it is a blessing from God to receive earnest counsel from a friend who loves us and wants us to live closely with God. Will you praise God for who those friends are in your life? And will you pray to God to be that kind of friend in the lives of others?

God created us to be part of a large, diverse, eternal family of faith. We are created in God’s image; therefore, we can know we were created to love others. We were created to have a close, personal relationship with God and with others. One of the best ways to build a family relationship with your brothers and sisters in Christ is to meet with them and encourage one another to live with an eternal focus.

The family of faith should encourage one another to live with great love for others and a great passion for good works. What are “good works”? In Scripture, our good works are accomplished by doing those things the Lord has called us to do. We are to walk in obedience to his word and to the voice of his word in our lives, his Holy Spirit. When we walk faithfully in obedience to God, we accomplish good works.

We hope people will walk with God, but Hebrews teaches us to “stir up,” or work hard, to continuously find ways to be an encourager. Words of encouragement are powerful, uplifting, protecting, and full of God’s powerful guidance. 

When we gather for worship, study, or simply to fellowship, we can ask ourselves if we have obeyed the wisdom of Hebrews. 

• Did we focus on God’s purpose for this time? How can we help people understand their need to serve Jesus and others?

• Offer truth to someone’s doubts?

• Offer comfort for their pain?

• Offer confidence, conviction, and power to their apathy?

The Day is drawing near. Today we are one day closer to our eternal life than we were yesterday. Are we doing all we can to invest in God’s kingdom and his eternal purpose for this world? 

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. How will you share God’s love, wisdom, and encouragement with your brothers and sisters tomorrow? “Consider how” you will live your answer to that question today.

Christians in the first century believed Christ’s return was imminent. Peter wanted his brothers and sisters in the faith to understand how they could live their earthly lives with the hope of heaven while they waited for their eternal lives to begin. What can we learn from Peter’s words today, centuries later?

Peter said, “The end of all things is at hand.” He believed Jesus would come back in his lifetime. Centuries later, we know that Jesus returned throughout Peter’s lifetime, and every generation that followed. Jesus was preparing his disciples for his death when he told them, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” 

There will be a final return of Christ, as promised in Revelation. Until that day, Jesus will return again and again, to guide God’s children to their eternity to dwell with him. Every time a Christian breathes their last breath on earth, Jesus comes for them and their next breath is in heaven. 

Tradition says that Peter asked the Roman soldiers to crucify him upside down because he wasn’t worthy to share the same death as Jesus. It is impossible to understand the strength of Peter’s faith in that moment, apart from the certain hope he had of Christ’s return for him. He died knowing he was about to see Jesus again, face-to-face.

Heaven is the very real promise of Scripture and the hope God wants us to live with each day. Until Jesus returns, or returns at our death, we know how to live. 

Peter taught God’s children to be “self-controlled,” which is better translated as having our “self” remain controlled by God’s Spirit. A Spirit-led life is “sober-minded” or solemnly focused on God's presence and priorities. That focus will help us to pray in God’s will and for his purpose in our lives. 

Then Peter taught that “above all” we should love one another, our fellow Christians, earnestly. God has given us his agape love so that we can share his love with others, especially with our Christian brothers and sisters. When our intentions are driven by the love of God, our actions will be controlled by God and keep us from a “multitude of sins.”

Good advice and careful instruction provide wisdom. Peter advised us to wait for Christ’s return with the hope of heaven and live each day led by God’s Spirit and filled with God’s love. The end of all things is at hand. Live ready to see Jesus as Peter did and you will live well.