I Can Only Imagine!

Listen to this blog.

I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had disappeared, and so had the sea.

Then I saw New Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from God in heaven. It was like a bride dressed in her wedding gown and ready to meet her husband.

I heard a loud voice shout from the throne:
God's home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people.

He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone forever.

Then the one sitting on the throne said:
I am making everything new. Write down what I have said. My words are true and can be trusted.

Revelation 21:1-5

It is always comforting to read the list of the things that will not be in Heaven. Listen to it again. There will be no more death, suffering, crying or pain. Imagine life without any of these. It brings me a sigh of relief just to think about it. Thank God that day will come when these will no longer plague our lives!

They will go, but what will remain? There are things that we experience here that we will also experience there because the Bible does not say that they will be taken away. Certainly the fruit of the Spirit will be there. There will be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness in Heaven.

When I was a child I got the impression that the only activity in Heaven would be praising God. I imagined that we would stand around and sing forever. Now I really like to sing, but isn't there more than that in Heaven? I believe that the Spirit's fruit must be there and that there will be opportunities in our lives there to experience love, feel joy, be at peace, exercise patience, see goodness and recognize faithfulness. Would I be foolish to suggest that life in Heaven will be even more intricate than the mosaic of life we live here?

If you were to be awarded with a vacation trip to a beautiful south seas island, as you waited to go you would do everything you could do to imagine what it will be like when you get there.

"Lord, I want to go to Heaven and live with Jesus forever. And I want not only to think about the things that will not be there, but to ponder the things that will. Help me to hold in my heart the glory of that day when I arrive in Your presence and begin the life I can now only imagine! Amen."