Basic Preparation for Transformation
Week 3, Email 2, Wednesday
Week 3, Email 2, Wednesday
Preparing for Heaven Needs to Be Now: Part Two
We Really Should Want to Get Ready for the Joys of Heaven
Take for example the exciting conversations we will have in heaven. An explosion of conversations and stories will bring endless praise to God from the moment beyond death to forever without end.
Consider these assumptions about relationships and conversations in heaven.
First, people will be in heaven from all over the world and from all centuries and will still exhibit aspects of the cultures in which they lived (dress, speech patterns, etc.).
Second, we will see all things clearly.
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;
then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part;
then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
1 Cor 13:12
then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part;
then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
1 Cor 13:12
This will allow us to see God clearly and understand His full personality.
It will also allow us to remember everything good that happened to us when we were on the first earth. We will be surprised how some things we thought were bad were actually good from God’s viewpoint.
We will probably be able to see for the first time spiritual activity and truth hidden during our sin-contaminated life. It is likely we will see what our spirit saw that did not register in our physical mind. We will see how God worked invisibly to take care of us and guide us to service opportunities and other blessings. This will be an additional dimension available to us in heaven - the ability to see the spiritual world, somewhat like a camera double exposure when we remember our past sin-contaminated life. This “double exposure effect” in heaven will likely allow us to perceive for the first time the angels involved in past events back when we lived surrounded by sin. (Just as we will be able to see first-hand the angels in heaven.)
Without sinfulness and self-focus in heaven, we will have a deeper empathy that will allow us to understand other people much better – their thoughts, feelings, motives and other things that were clouded during sin-contaminated life.
Let’s see where those assumptions go when we think of the many wonderful conversations we will have in heaven – enough to last a long, long time.
It will take a great deal of eternity to hear the many stories of trillions of people from all times and all places. Imagine if your conversations in eternity were limited to just 10,000 people from all cultures across millennia and geography, and each of them have 50 great stories a year for 45 years during sin-contaminated life. That would be 22.5 million conversations of their stories and 22.5 million of yours for a total of 45,000,000 conversations. And, every time a story was told it would highlight God’s part, which was unseen before but clearly seen in life after death.
Remembering the good things and the victories, but seeing beyond the mirror to the spiritual dimension and recognizing what God orchestrated in each event will lead to telling over and over again God’s wonderful part. All of us telling such finally complete stories will make praise of God happen continually all over heaven at the same time.
Imagine how interesting and thrilling this will be. The stories! The grace and mercies of God that took place in endless situations! So many cultures! Such variety! Wow!
Maybe there will be new games in heaven, perhaps a “People Scavenger Hunt”. The purpose would be to find someone who ate a qualibump (rare dessert eaten in the Roman Empire in the early 200s – I made this up) on their fifth birthday.
Being in the presence of God and relating to Him is the most wonderful thing about heaven. Add to that the millions of conversations, the feast the Bible talks about, the exploring of the new heavens and new earth, and many more things beyond our dreams.
Bound for Heaven and the Need to Start Getting Ready
You want to be ready to take in as much of heaven as you can.
Our obedience on earth to Scripture and God’s commands is very important. We cannot ignore God now and expect to enter heaven “caught up”. The Togethers are drawn from hundreds of Scriptures and can be a blueprint for getting ready for heaven. Thus, they should be high priority in preparing for heaven and our eternal life.
The Together, Accept One Another, can be a good example for this discussion.
Not having developed the ability to find the non-sinful aspects of other people’s cultures and personal idiosyncracies interesting, fascinating, and enjoyable, will a person sit in the story-telling circles in heaven for all eternity and see, comprehend and enjoy much less? I remember sitting in my college physics class not understanding much of what the professor was saying. My mind was blank, kind of like a “deer in a headlights”. Perhaps that is what it will be like for Christians who do not learn to accept other types of people. A person who turned his or her back on the Lord’s command to “accept one another” will be spiritually underdeveloped and miss out on a lot.
Your Quality of Life in Heaven Depends on What You Do Now!
There are many ways in which our quality of life in heaven can be enhanced by obedience or held back by indifference.
Quality of life in heaven is a matter of degree, not absence. The degree that we will be able to interact with heaven will be determined by our obedience here in our life before death. The Bible tells us how to live and all of those commands and suggestions prepare us for heaven – if we take advantage of living the way God wants us to live.
It will also allow us to remember everything good that happened to us when we were on the first earth. We will be surprised how some things we thought were bad were actually good from God’s viewpoint.
We will probably be able to see for the first time spiritual activity and truth hidden during our sin-contaminated life. It is likely we will see what our spirit saw that did not register in our physical mind. We will see how God worked invisibly to take care of us and guide us to service opportunities and other blessings. This will be an additional dimension available to us in heaven - the ability to see the spiritual world, somewhat like a camera double exposure when we remember our past sin-contaminated life. This “double exposure effect” in heaven will likely allow us to perceive for the first time the angels involved in past events back when we lived surrounded by sin. (Just as we will be able to see first-hand the angels in heaven.)
Without sinfulness and self-focus in heaven, we will have a deeper empathy that will allow us to understand other people much better – their thoughts, feelings, motives and other things that were clouded during sin-contaminated life.
Let’s see where those assumptions go when we think of the many wonderful conversations we will have in heaven – enough to last a long, long time.
It will take a great deal of eternity to hear the many stories of trillions of people from all times and all places. Imagine if your conversations in eternity were limited to just 10,000 people from all cultures across millennia and geography, and each of them have 50 great stories a year for 45 years during sin-contaminated life. That would be 22.5 million conversations of their stories and 22.5 million of yours for a total of 45,000,000 conversations. And, every time a story was told it would highlight God’s part, which was unseen before but clearly seen in life after death.
Remembering the good things and the victories, but seeing beyond the mirror to the spiritual dimension and recognizing what God orchestrated in each event will lead to telling over and over again God’s wonderful part. All of us telling such finally complete stories will make praise of God happen continually all over heaven at the same time.
Imagine how interesting and thrilling this will be. The stories! The grace and mercies of God that took place in endless situations! So many cultures! Such variety! Wow!
Maybe there will be new games in heaven, perhaps a “People Scavenger Hunt”. The purpose would be to find someone who ate a qualibump (rare dessert eaten in the Roman Empire in the early 200s – I made this up) on their fifth birthday.
Being in the presence of God and relating to Him is the most wonderful thing about heaven. Add to that the millions of conversations, the feast the Bible talks about, the exploring of the new heavens and new earth, and many more things beyond our dreams.
Bound for Heaven and the Need to Start Getting Ready
You want to be ready to take in as much of heaven as you can.
Our obedience on earth to Scripture and God’s commands is very important. We cannot ignore God now and expect to enter heaven “caught up”. The Togethers are drawn from hundreds of Scriptures and can be a blueprint for getting ready for heaven. Thus, they should be high priority in preparing for heaven and our eternal life.
The Together, Accept One Another, can be a good example for this discussion.
Not having developed the ability to find the non-sinful aspects of other people’s cultures and personal idiosyncracies interesting, fascinating, and enjoyable, will a person sit in the story-telling circles in heaven for all eternity and see, comprehend and enjoy much less? I remember sitting in my college physics class not understanding much of what the professor was saying. My mind was blank, kind of like a “deer in a headlights”. Perhaps that is what it will be like for Christians who do not learn to accept other types of people. A person who turned his or her back on the Lord’s command to “accept one another” will be spiritually underdeveloped and miss out on a lot.
Your Quality of Life in Heaven Depends on What You Do Now!
There are many ways in which our quality of life in heaven can be enhanced by obedience or held back by indifference.
Quality of life in heaven is a matter of degree, not absence. The degree that we will be able to interact with heaven will be determined by our obedience here in our life before death. The Bible tells us how to live and all of those commands and suggestions prepare us for heaven – if we take advantage of living the way God wants us to live.
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1. There will be losses in spiritual maturity. In heaven we can grow and gain lost ground, but not catch up with others ahead of us in specific spiritual areas.
2. There will be losses that are permanent because gain had to happen in a sinful environment. |