Saturday November 20, 2010

Read Revelation 20-21

Can you think of a way to describe the colour blue to a man born blind? Can you think of a way to describe music to a woman who has been deaf all her life? How do you describe the joy of human touch to a leper who has no feeling or senses in their skin?

That’s the inherent problem with heaven. It’s so foreign to our world that it’s incredibly difficult to describe.  Heaven is so far beyond our experience and comprehension that it’s difficult to talk about or to dream about. But on several occasions, heaven is described for us.

How would you describe heaven to a non believer? The traditional picture of an angel on a cloud playing a harp is, in the eyes of the world, relatively BORING. No wonder we see depictions or cartoons of parties, booze ups and bbqs in hell! No wonder the world is saying ‘Hey, I’d rather be in hell with my mates than sitting on a boring old cloud with a dull harp.’ Heaven is hard to describe.

How often do you find yourself day dreaming of heaven? How often do you find yourself talking about heaven and longing to be there. We long and dream of that annual vacation by the beach. We dream of bodily fulfilment. We daydream about the pleasures of the flesh but heaven is so hard to dream about because it’s so foreign to our experience.

How often do you encourage your brothers and sisters with talk of heaven? How often do you spur one another on with talk of our final destination? How often do we lift each other up out of the mud and mire of life by recalling the joys we’ll share in that perfect paradise?

How often do you praise God that He has opened the door way to heaven for you personally through the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus? How often do you sing adoration to Christ for taking your sins, the guilt and the shame, and nailing them to the cross? How often do you reflect that Jesus has perfected you for heaven, for God’s presence?

It’s time to refocus. It’s time to set our heart and mind on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. It’s time to get our head into the clouds and meditate on heaven so that we can be of great earthly use!

Prayer:-

> Spend time praising God for the hope you have in heaven.

> Spend time thanking God that Jesus has equipped your for heaven.

> Pray that this hope we have in heaven will spur our Sudanese brothers and sisters onwards as they struggle and seek to live in a hostile land. Pray that they would be courageously sharing their hope.