"Would you be satisfied to go to Heaven, have everybody there in your family that you want there, have all the health and restoration of your prime and everything you disliked about yourself fixed, have every recreation you've ever dreamed available to you and have infinite resources of money to spend? Would you be satisfied?...if God weren't there?"
So as I'm honestly thinking through this question I ponder what my speculations about Heaven entail, and I wonder what is it that I am looking forward to in Heaven. I suppose that I assumed that God's children would be forever before His throne praising Him. I believe that that would be most satisfying, but I am not convinced that that will be our only task.
I've been doing a bit of studying in eschatology (I posted my position paper from my Systematic Theology class a few months ago), and I can't help but consider the idea that when God creates the new Heavens and new Earth that He will place His people into those perfect environments. I got to thinking that when we are in our resurrection bodies, not suffering from any sinful thoughts or temptations which would normally take our minds off of our God, walking through the fields and up the paths which God has given us that we will enjoy it and every gift that God has given us for exactly what it is--God's gift to us! We will no longer take a breathe without glorifying God with our gratitude for that breath. We will no longer eat a meal without glorifying God by enjoying it and recognizing who gave us that enjoyment. We will no longer gaze upon the beauty of the creation that God has placed us into without a perfect realization of what we are enjoying and how we have come to be able to partake in it. We will no longer sin in these things or in any other way!
I don't know about you, but I suffer from temptation and sinful lapses daily, and to be able to have God at the forefront of all of my thoughts without Him slipping to the back of my mind would be the most satisfying thing for me. And to not only know what is being enjoyed and Who has given it, but to also be able to communicate with Him personally. I mean IN PERSON!
Well, I bring all this up to hopefully encourage anyone reading this who is in Christ with the hope of Heaven having been laid before you. And if these things are any kind of possibility for our future, then we should be striving in our prayers and in our daily actions to think this way. Everything in your life is a gift from God. I don't care if it's something as seemingly insignificant as the bowl of cereal that you had for breakfast to something all encompassing as a serious injury that keeps you out of work for a year. We, as children of our heavenly Father, should be reminding ourselves and our siblings in Christ that our Father loves us and is accomplishing all of the events in our lives for our ultimate good and His ultimate glory and that we ought to be grateful for every little detail.
Read Romans 8 regularly. As a matter of fact, read Romans 7-8 when you struggle with or fall into sin. Also read I Peter regularly. Remember when reading this book that God has plucked you out of your sinful, hopeless lifestyle, and given you a sure hope in Heaven with Him. He has not only chosen you for that blessing but for the blessings of hardships in order for you to fully realize your dependence on Him and to love Him that much more.
Oh, to have our minds transformed in this way! Let's work on it and pray for God's assistance, without which we will never persevere. And may God be glorified in our enjoyment of Him!
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