Something Heavenly!

Original Blog posted on MySpace, Thursday October @5, 2007

Hello, back again. So, we’re about to wrap up the acrostic. Let’s recap.

F is for forgiveness. We can’t have eternal life without God’s forgiveness.

A is for available. God’s forgiveness is available, but it’s not automatic.

I is for impossible. It is impossible for God to allow sin into heaven.

T is for Turn. We must turn from our sin and selfishness and turn to Christ and trust Him alone.

H is for Heaven.

Heaven is here, right now! Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10b. Think about that! Is your life characterized by abundant life? Is your life characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control? The life that Jesus offers is. It’s a life filled with hope, lived in the awareness of God on a moment by moment basis. It’s not Pollyanna, pie in the sky naiveté, it accepts that bad things happen and struggles still takes place. But it acknowledges that God has resources available to deal with those challenges.

Heaven is also the Hereafter. Jesus also said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself: that where I am, there you also may be.” John 14:3 Jesus was telling this to His disciples just hours before His crucifixion, when they didn’t have a clue about what was about to happen. Jesus dies, and is buried for 3 days, is resurrected, reveals Himself to the disciples, and for 40 days teaches them new things about the Kingdom of God. He then Ascends into heaven. Jesus is in heaven right now preparing a place for us. Exactly what all that entails I don’t know, but what I do know is that we will feel at home in heaven.

Some folks have said they want no part of heaven because they feel it will be boring, sitting on a puffy white cloud with a harp, singing 24/7, eternally. Or they envision an eternal church service. But this is error. Heaven is described as a place where there is no sin, death, pain. And this has several implications.

Think for a moment your life as it is right now, but with the absence of sin. Not just in you, but in everyone you encounter. Think about it. No war, no jails, no prisons, no hospitals, at least not like we have them or how they’re used today. No insane asylums, no drugs, no cemeteries, no funeral homes, no insurance dealers, no military, no OSHA, EPA, NAFTA, OPEC, or FDA. No United Nations. All the institutions of man that have been created to deal with the insufficiency of man to live here on earth in harmony with man will not be needed, for there will be no sin. This will be what it is like in heaven, and also in the new heaven and earth to come.

Heaven will be a place of learning. We will continue to learn the many aspects of life that we have not discovered while we were here in the now. You have heard that we only use 10% of or brains? Well, I believe that the other 90% will be awakened upon entering heaven.

We will be creative, and have more opportunities to use our creativeness. We will have sanctified imaginations, so the art we create will be pure, reflecting God’s glory. We will still be entertained, for the entertainment will be stories that point to God and reveal the beauty of His character.

We will be explorers. We will explore the depths of the seas and the far reaches of the galaxy, even universe. We will not be as hampered by our physical limitations. Imagine diving into the ocean and swimming for hours underwater on one breath of air!

And this just scratches the surface……

A lot of what I just wrote are ideas I gleaned from a book entitled “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn. I suggest you go buy it, or borrow it, and devour it, for it clears up a lot of bad ideas we have about heaven, and gives us some good ideas that are more freeing, yet bible based. I can’t do it justice here. But it piqued my interest in a view of heaven that makes me anticipate it more.

Well, there we have it. The beast within can be slain by a simple yet profound thing called FAITH, but not just faith in any old thing. Not faith, like optimism or positive thinking. Those are really great things and are needed in the Christian life. But it’s a faith in Jesus Christ and His saving work on the cross.

So what about you? Where do you stand is the journey of faith?

Next week, I want to explore where you are. Think about it now. If you died tonight, and stood before God, and He asked you, “Why should I allow you into my heaven?”…. How would you respond? You’ve got a week to think about it…

Next week, Not Just a Ticket to Ride…

1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea existed no longer. 2I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

3Then I heard a loud voice from the throne:

Look! God’s dwelling is with men,

and He will live with them.

They will be His people,

and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Death will exist no longer;

grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer,

because the previous things have passed away.

5Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 6And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to the thirsty from the spring of living water as a gift. 7The victor will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. 8But the cowards, unbelievers, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:1-8