Heaven part 1
Wow. Kind of ambitious, huh? A five part Rant series to say what needs to be said about one of the biggest, deepest, widest topics in all of the world. Easy peasy, right? Come on. I'm just going to say a little bit about how I feel about "heaven" right now. Which, by the way, is the point. Because if we're looking at heaven only as a some day pie in the sky far away destination that we can have enjoy only if we're good enough to make the cut then we're missing out on what's available right now. Look at Deuteronomy 11:21, "That your days be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth." The days of heaven... UPON THE EARTH. Multiplied days... UPON THE EARTH. This life we have... RIGHT NOW. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abudantly. Jesus came that we might experiece life... here and now... by receiving and releasing His love. Not by working for it, or trying to earn it. By receiving it and releasing it. Experiencing and enjoying the gift we've been given... by giving it away. By sharing it. Experiencing and enjoying life... by living. (With the understanding that to live is to love and to love is to live.) Now stick with me on this one. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." That is the beginning. But of what? The beginning of the story. But what story? YOUR story. The story of Jesus Christ and how you fit into it. Because we know history is HIS story, right? He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And everything in between. All our lives don't we just look for where we belong? Why we're here? What this life is for? The only way those questions are answered are when you find yourself in Him. So look at it like this: In the beginning God created the mind and body. In the beginning (of your story) God created... you. The days of heaven on earth are simply what happens when you let the mind of Christ (that's already in you) BE in you. When you USE the mind of Christ that you've already been given. When you focus on what really matters and think the very thoughts of God. In Jeremiah 29:11 God tells us that, "...I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." HE knows the thoughts He thinks toward us. And He makes them known TO us. So that WE might know them. And think them. And act on them. Thoughts of peace, and not of evil. Thoughts of love, love, and only love. Heaven. The mind of Christ. The mind of love. The days of heaven on earth. Days of LOVE on earth. Living our best lives, here and now, by letting Jesus live HIS life in us, and through us, and as us. That's what is available to us. That's what has been given to us. That's what we can use, and and experience. Right now. Not some day far away after we die... but right now. That's what God gave to us because that's what He wants for us!