8/30/26

Day 30

That Where He Is, We May Be

Scripture: John 17:24

As Jesus' great prayer draws toward its close, He voices His deepest desire for us—the consummation toward which all of union has been moving from the very first day of this month: "Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!" (John 17:24). Everything we have tasted this month—Christ in us, us in Christ, one spirit, one body, complete in Him—was heading somewhere all along. It ends here: in unbroken, face-to-face, everlasting presence. The union that begins veiled and partial now finds its destination in sight without a veil.

For all its wonder, everything we have known of union so far is only the beginning—the firstfruits, not the harvest. Christ in us, us in Christ, one spirit, one body, complete in Him—all of it is gloriously real now, but it is real as through a clouded window, partial, seen dimly. "Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely" (1 Corinthians 13:12). The day is fixed when the veil lifts entirely—when the union we now hold by faith becomes union held by sight, when the One we love unseen we shall see, and know as fully as we are known.

And notice, with care, what Jesus wants for us most. Not first that we would accomplish great things for Him. Not chiefly that we would be rewarded for our labors. His deepest desire, voiced in His final hours, is that we would "be with me where I am." The very heart of heaven is not a place, not a reward, not a golden street—it is presence. It is union brought to its fullness: the beloved finally with the Beloved, forever, with nothing left between them. "Then we will be with the Lord forever" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). That single line contains the whole hope of the believer. Not merely somewhere forever, but with the Lord forever. The destination of every soul joined to Christ is not a location. It is Him.

And there, at last, we will see His glory fully unveiled—"the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began." Trace where that love reaches back to: before the world began. Union does not lead us into some strange, uncharted unknown. It leads us home into a love that has existed from all eternity and has now, unfathomably, been opened to include us. We are being drawn into something older than the stars, more permanent than the universe, more ancient than time itself: the eternal love flowing between Father and Son, into which the Son has prayed us. This is where your union is taking you—not merely to a better version of this life, but into the everlasting love at the center of all reality.

This is why the believer can face even death without final despair, and it may be the most important thing you carry out of this month. For the one joined to Christ, death is not the end of union—it is its consummation. "When our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: 'Death is swallowed up in victory'" (1 Corinthians 15:54). To die in Christ is not to be separated from Him at last; it is to be brought fully, finally, face-to-face into His presence—the union we have known here in part made complete and permanent forever. What we feared as the great severing turns out, for those in Christ, to be the great arrival. Death does not break the union. It completes it.

So lift your eyes today above the partial to the perfect, above the veiled to the unveiled. The union you strain to feel now, through the clouded glass, you will one day live in without any veil at all. The Christ who dwells in you now, unseen, you will one day behold with your own eyes. Let this hope steady you in whatever you are facing: you are not merely getting through life, enduring your days until they run out. You are being brought home—to be with Him where He is, to see the glory the Father gave Him, to dwell forever in the love that had no beginning and will have no end. "And they will see his face" (Revelation 22:4). The whole ache of union, its every unsatisfied longing, resolves there—in a face at last seen, and a presence never again lost.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, Your deepest desire is that I would be with You where You are, and see the glory You have had from before the world began. Thank You that the union I know now only in part, through a clouded glass, will one day be complete—face to face, unveiled, and everlasting. Steady me with this hope. When death or darkness comes, remind me it is not separation but homecoming, not the breaking of our union but its consummation. I long to be where You are. Bring me home. Amen.

Today, lift your eyes beyond your circumstances to the destination of your union. Read John 17:24 and 1 Corinthians 13:12 slowly, and let this hope settle deep: the veiled union you know now will one day be face to face, and it will be forever. Let the certainty of "being with Him where He is" steady you in whatever you are carrying today.

Scripture for Reflection:
1 Corinthians 13:12 — "Then we will see everything with perfect clarity."
1 Thessalonians 4:17 — "And so we will be with the Lord forever."
Revelation 22:4 — "And they will see his face."

You are not merely getting through life. You are being brought home—to be with Him where He is. For those in Christ, death does not break the union; it completes it.