Look Above and Dream
The common cry of Christians is that their faith is “bleh-verage”… it exists, but there is no fire. They go through the motions and attend church, not to grow as Christians in God’s kingdom but to satisfy the need for “socializing.” The church becomes a holy substitute for a bar or club. I know I’ve been guilty of this!
It extends past church. Some Christians serve others, not out of Christ’s love for the world but just because that’s what a good person is supposed to do. If they reflect on it, they might say they serve to be like Christ… but judging from their other actions and their private walk with God (if they were honest), they probably do good things because they want to be good people. Good people do good things, right? It’s that simple.
The question is intriguing. If God is so good, powerful, and wise… If the Gospel is so merciful, crazy-awesome, and inspiring… If Christianity has a Savior who is the way, the truth, and the life…
Why do Christians suffer from lame faith?
Look Above and See
As I’m reading Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven, I’m convinced it’s because we have a terribly inaccurate view of Heaven. This leads us not to think of Heaven at all. How can you be sincerely passionate about the Gospel when it leads to a place of eternal… lameness? Seriously, why would I want to spend eternity strumming a harp on a cloud? Why would I want my forever to be filled with boredom? At least in Hell I’ll be with most of my friends (or so the quip goes).
A Gospel with an ugly Heaven has no hope. I’m being saved for that? No thanks! A Christianity with no hope leads to uninspired, lazy Christians that try to enjoy this life as much as possible because there sure isn’t anything in eternity for them!
Heaven is going to be a new EARTH, not some spiritual dense fog where spirits float around. It will be a physical place full of physical, mental, and spiritual pleasures. The Bible makes it clear there will be rewards for what we’ve done on earth (Revelation 22:12). There will be no more death and disease and violence. We will have work to do in the next life (Matthew 25:23).
But above all, we’ll be reunited with God. All our lives, there’s been a hole in our hearts. We long for meaning, purpose, destiny. God created us so that the hole can ONLY be satisfied with God. We don’t know the meaning of true contentment and peace in this life. We get glimpses (around a campfire with close friends, or after a job well done that brings joy to many). For the first time, we’ll be truly at peace with ourselves because we have been restored to the way things were always meant to be. We'll have an unbreakable connection with our Creator.
I had to cram the beautiful truth of Heaven into two paragraphs for the sake of a blog post, but I’d highly recommend reading Alcorn’s book! So much more could be said. Christians in America are often portrayed as solid people, but not very passionate. Tell me, do you dream of Heaven? Do you actually want to go there? If not, you probably won’t be telling other people about it. Discover the truth about eternity and then dream about it. A fire will be lit in your soul.
*These rewards for a well-lived life don’t save us, however. That is a key thing to remember. Our ticket was free and bought by Jesus Christ.
