What is Missing in Heaven?

Heaven....

 

To our earth-bound minds, Heaven is an abstract concept, a realm foreign to us. We accept by faith the reality of this spiritual realm, but it’s difficult to imagine what Heaven must be like. The Bible only gives us hints at what Heaven is like, and the descriptions we have appear in the form of poetry and metaphor. Galileo remarked, “The intention of the Holy Spirit is not to teach us how Heaven goes, but how one goes to Heaven.” The glories of Heaven far surpass our perception. Heaven is a real place, and the reality will exceed all images and symbols. The Apostle Paul was given a vision of heaven, but words failed him. Human language has limitations. All Paul could say was that he experienced things so astounding that they couldn’t be told (II Cor 12). Heaven is a reality unreachable to any of our senses. It’s like explaining the world to an unborn baby.

Heaven is “Paradise restored”. Because of sin, Adam made a grave of a garden, but Christ has made a garden of a grave. Sin resulted in expulsion from a garden, and salvation is restoration to Paradise. Some things will be missing in Heaven. There will be no death, no pain, no sin, no curse, no tears. God declares through the prophet Jeremiah 31:13, the Message: “I will turn their mourning into gladness, their weeping into laughter, lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy.” The injustices and deprivations of earthly life will be fully and forever corrected. In Heaven we will be liberated from every loss. We will find Heaven a place where the Lord’s Prayer is fulfilled--where God’s Name is hallowed, His Kingdom is come, His will is done.

In heaven. Sad thoughts of earth such as murder, rape, divorce, deception, death, destruction...memories of loss and sadness, depression and hunger, disease or disability just won't have a place in heaven. These horrors of the fallen flesh will all be mitigated and eclipsed like the stars are eclipsed by the rising sun. Because the brightness of the risen son will be brighter than any guilt, any shame, any sorrow, and anything sin might might have used to destroy. We won't forget, but we will have no need to remember.

I pray you are not missing in heaven...you know I love ya, Don

Yosemite National Forest Falls!

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. -Isaiah 40:28 (NRSV)

When I was in High School there was a morning during my prayer time, I gave thanks for being able to talk to God anywhere, any time, just as millions of people around the world do. I am not sure the date and I do not understand how God hears every prayer and cares for every person, how God knows us all individually as no one else does. Yet I know that with God, nothing is impossible.

A few days later I remembered a trip we took to Yosemite National Park. We camped a few nights and walked to the base of the falls. I recalled how the water was cascading down the side of the flat mountain where the glacier had tore away half the mountain side away. I then imagined how God's blessings cascade from heaven to earth. The water was God's goodness, pouring out love, truth, peace, and joy on everyone. It was a God moment that taught me God is everywhere and that God's power, through the Holy Spirit, never ends. As God pours down blessings on us, we try, through acts of kindness and love, to be channels of that blessing to others. As the Christ Follower waits and channels the blessing, we see entire valleys carved into the darkness of this world.

"God our fountain of every blessing, thank you for your never-ending love for us and for all the blessings you give each day. Help us to be channels of your love as we pray, 'Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen'."

You know I love Ya, Don