heaven

I've been thinking about heaven a lot recently. Not in a morbid way...I guess I just feel as though the eternity of never-ending fun and games I learned about as a kid just doesn't work for me anymore. You know, we make fun of the Islamic belief that when men enter into the afterlife they are greeted by 72 virgins. But outside of Christianity's emphasis on sexual purity and monogamy...we essentially believe the same thing. Its just golf instead of virgins.

One of my least favorite questions that people ask is, “Do you really think that all we are going to do in heaven is worship…forever. Certainly, that can not be all we do for eternity. Can it?”

The reason this question bothers me is because I believe that our beliefs and expectations of heaven are solid indicators of the true focus of our hearts. And this is a question that seems to be posed from a heart centered on self, not Christ. Look at the scriptures every time heaven is mentioned. Every angel and heavenly host is always encircled around the throne of Christ singing His praise. All of heaven is obsessed with Jesus. He not only dwells there, He is enthroned there. He is the center of every moment in heaven. And His pleasure and glory are the sole motivation for every movement of heaven.

I think we have a hard time understanding complete and eternal obsession with Christ in heaven, because while we believe that Christ truly does exist, we live almost every moment of our lives for ourselves and act as if Christ’s existence within our lives is mainly to assist us, work to our advantage, and make our lives better. So it is natural for us to believe the same of heaven; that heaven is about us and our receiving of eternal enjoyment and pleasure. And of course, we believe that Christ’s presence in heaven will enhance that.

Well, it will be quite an awakening for all of us when we do finally “walk through the pearly gates”. To be in heaven is to be in unhindered, unrestricted, full and complete view of Christ’s blazing glory. The moment our fully restored eyes catch a glimpse of Him, we will be on our knees, faces to the ground, crying in utter reverence and joy, “Holy, Holy, Holy”. We will be so overwhelmed with the fullness of His presence that we won’t want to ever take our eyes off of His radiant face. A thousand years will pass by in an instant as we strive more and more to behold and praise our King, for all that He is. And do you think that it will take any less than an eternity to do that? Do you really think that you are going to be bored after ten minutes, or ten days, or ten thousand years of gazing upon His unobstructed beauty? Do you really think that it will be possible for your senses to be deadened or your enjoyment lost? Do really think that there will ever come a time in heaven, when you stand up and look around for something else to do? I believe that as soon as you lifted your head, you would again be face to face with His brilliant glory and fall back down on your knees and be lost in worship for another eternity. We won’t care to catch up with our old friends. We won’t care to walk the streets of gold. We won’t even care to see our long deceased relatives. As much as all of this might interest us now, before the splendor and attractiveness of Christ, I believe it won’t even be an after thought. We will only care to worship Him forever. He will be our Joy and our Pleasure. For this is the purpose for which we were created and this is the purpose for which we were redeemed: to intimately know and have an unhindered relationship with our God. And what other relationship could we possibly expect between man and the Almighty, altogether Glorious Creator and Sustainer of the universe, other than us, the eternal worshipers, and God, the eternally Worshipped? We all will be forever obsessed with Christ in heaven…because heaven is all about Him.

Of course, this is all just my opinion of what heaven will be like. I don't know any more than anyone else. On earth, all we can really do is speculate...so if you're still into the golf thing, that's fine too.