Life and Death part 2
I think if you look at heaven as life and hell as death--not destinations, but states of being--then everything is a heaven and hell issue. Because I think everything is a life or death issue. As one of my favorite movies says, "Get busy living or get busy dying." As I see it, those are your choices. And yet we spend so much energy making sure we take the cosmic afterlife elevator UP instead of DOWN. And I know that Jesus talked about having treasure in heaven. But, again, I think that was more of a state of being. The days of heaven on earth. The treasure of our heart's desire. Which is love. Experiencing the gift we've been given by giving it away. Let me get my memory verse out: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi 3:10). And there's so much here. So much about how JESUS is the tithe AND the storehouse. But the point I want to make is that God didn't promise to open up the windows of heaven FOR us. He promised to open US up, because WE ARE the windows of heaven! He didn't promise to pour out a blessing FOR us. He promised to pour US out AS a blessing. So much that there won't be room to receive it. Filling us up to overflowing so that we can live out of our abundance. So that we can give what we've got simply by knowing (and believing) that we've got it. That's what life is all about. The difference between life and death... is love. God loved us so much that He gave us His only begotten Son. And Jesus loved us so much that He gave His life for us, and He gave His life to us. He quickened us when we were dead. Died for us when we were sinners. To bring us to life. And not just any life, but HIS life. The abundant, eternal, everlasting, Resurrection Life of Love that is knowing the one true God and the One whom He sent. Knowing God as your heavenly Father and knowing yourself as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. That's your true identity. That's who you really are. Who you are in Christ is who Christ is in you. And without that quickening Spirit--the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth that equips and empowers us to call out Abba, Father--we cannot truly live. We cannot experience the days of heaven on earth. We cannot rule and reign as kings and priests on this earth. Because to live is to love. To love is to live. Heaven on earth means receiving and releasing God's love. Obeying the New Commandment and loving one another as He loves us. Ruling and reigning in love. For love. By love. Because of love. We know that we have passed from death into life because we love. That's the key. That's the difference. What are those old two sentence stories? No love, no life. KNOW love, KNOW life. You can't have one without the other because they are not just connected... they are the same thing. Adam didn't know he was loved and he surely died. We know we are loved and we can live forever. Even when our mortal bodies are gone our legacy of love will live on!