Heaven

What do you think of when you think of Heaven?  Yeah, me too.  I think of a place where every dream has come true, every worry has been erased, where everything I wanted out of life but never got, is.  I get to shed 30 years, 20 kilos and I get to eat my favourite foods and not get fat, see my deceased pets,  and see all those people that went before me that I miss so much.

But, it’s recently become apparent to me that I might have the wrong idea about Heaven.  Heaven is a place for spiritial beings, and to be there, I need a being guided by my spiritual self, not my carnal self. That calls into question the need to have everything I've ever wanted but didn't have on Earth.

Heaven is where God lives, and is a place absolutely drenched in His perfect love.  Perfect, selfless love, as demonstrated by Jesus on the cross.  And, Heaven is filled with angels and saints, beings that were created to and learned to love God as He should be loved, as He seeks to be loved, and to love others in that same way.

Jesus said there were two commandments and that everything else hangs on these: love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love others as you love yourself.  Jesus made this clear because that’s what He is like, and that is what the place He lives is like.  And, if we are to go to Heaven, we must learn to do these two things, because that’s life in Heaven in a nutshell.  If we don’t want to do that here, why would we want to go to Heaven anyway?

It’s not that we suddenly change and these desires magically go away, it’s that when we truly grasp His love in the light of our salvation and what He did to secure it, seeing Fluffy and having a guilt-free burger and seeing Grandma again just won’t be as important.  It will be pleasant, joyous, to be sure, but it will be more the icing on the cake.  But, if the only reason you want to go to Heaven is to have all of your fleshly desires fulfilled continually, you really won’t like it once you get there.  You can't live on icing alone.

Heaven is where God lives and I get to be with Him forever. And, that’s enough for anyone.