Heavenly Hype

2007-04-08

We have made grand mistakes for a long time regarding what the Gospel is. For years, from my own experience, we talk a lot about heaven and how we long for a perfect world. We all long for this: where the lion and the lamb live in harmony and the ground bears thistles and thorns no more. This is the realization of our long-awaited dream. What can possibly be missing?

We often forget that what we truly long for is to see Jesus face to face. All discussion of heaven in the Bible is not in the context of heaven itself; it is being in the presence of God. When we die, we will be with Christ. When He rules in eternity, we will be with Him. So the Gospel really is this: to be with Christ for eternity, not merely life in paradise.

When I think about my life before I knew Jesus, life was always centered on activity for the sake of pleasure and self-contentment. Being left empty, I was driven to the foot of the cross. I wanted to live for something bigger than myself, and Jesus was the One. No other thing or other person anywhere was worthy to which I would devote my life. We were created by Him and for His purpose. We will lack purpose if we do otherwise.

But slowly we begin to substitute something else for Jesus. The scariest things we substitute for Him are the most spiritual-looking ones. Substituting “heaven” for Jesus was one I mentioned above. My biggest error in times past is to substitute knowing Christ with knowing about Christ. For example, if I know that someone is six feet tall with brown eyes, this does not mean I know this someone! I know people the best, for example, if I enjoy time with them, know what pleases them, and share my joys and sorrows with them. This is where we need to be: We need to know Him, not just know about Him.

This is the amazing thing about our Lord: We offer Him nothing and we freely receive. But He wants us to know Him on an intimate level of which we have never dreamed. It is time to ask myself, “Do I know Him? Is my relationship with the Lord paramount over all other aspects in my life?”

While pondering this, I remember other things that I have been thinking about recently. A change of mind is desperately needed. I have thought about how deep God’s love is for the human race both collectively and as individuals. He does not keep record of sin and personal accomplishment for our self-glory. He has given us His Spirit to change us to be like Him, and we have amazing power to serve God and love Him in ways we never could under the Law. But it is amazing how we cling to beliefs contrary to these promises of God. But it is written in Proverbs 20:5: “Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.” If I do not desire the Lord with all of my heart, then I am substituting my Lord with a counterfeit that both leaves me empty and grieves the Spirit within that longs to change the world through me.