If we are to realize the Kingdom of God on Earth, then it must be by doing our part to make Earth as Heavenly as possible. I do not believe Christ intended for us to do this by taking the law and then using the law to make people righteous, although I do have no objections to Christians in politics. I believe he intended to do this through simple means, and that is people like you and I.
Consider first off that Heaven can be a reality here if we will but let it. The reason we do not have heavenly goods is that we are still being too stingy with earthly goods. Consider C.S. Lewis’s example of the boy who loves chocolate and is told the sexual act is the highest bodily pleasure possible and asks “Does it involve chocolate?” and is told “no.”
The little boy cannot think of how it can be good with the exclusion of chocolate. However, the lovers caught up do not think about chocolate because what they have to think about is so much better. This is not denying the goodness of chocolate of course, but simply realizing a hierarchy. You will not get greater goods while you are still focused on lesser ones.
We do not want the good of Heaven often because we are so stingy with our own deity. We do not want the glory of God for too often, we focus on the glory of ourselves. Consider though some realities of Heaven. I see no reason to think that we will know the future entirely in Heaven. It will be unknown.
However, is that not the case here? Do we not have an unknown future here? Indeed we do. Yet here, we worry about it. Do we do so in Heaven? I see no reason to think so. What makes the difference? Well, there we have God. But we have God here! The difference then is that we are so caught up in God then that we do not have any need to worry. Here, we are focused on ourselves and we worry about the future and usually with a focus on ourselves. There, we are focused on him and the future is not a worry.
What of the past? Here, we have shame for our past sins. We have memories we want to recover from. Will we be ignorant of the past in Heaven? I do not see any reason again to think such. Instead, it could be that that which we consider shameful will be turned to glory.
Consider the case of a man who enters a fight on the street to rescue a young lady from some thugs. Let us suppose that he wins, but it is not without damage. He has several bruises to show for it. Now normally, a bruise could be a cause of shame. However, these could be honor. Each time someone asks “What happened to you?” he can get to tell them the story.
In a similar way, some readers I’m sure know that I have scoleosis. Because of that, I had a steel rod put on my spine before I turned sixteen. My back does have the remains of a scar now. (I cannot tell for sure, for it is hard for me to see my own back even in a mirror. The rod restricts my turning ability.) However, it is now an honor. If people see it, it gives me a chance to tell a story.
I suspect our scars in Heaven could be similar. The sins will be reminders of God’s grace and mercy on us and that will remind us of his glory. The memories we want to forget will be ones we gladly share for they will tell of his compassion with us. Heaven will be a place of victory stories with God being the victor each time.
Again, what keeps us from this? Our self-focus most often. We are too stingy with our control over our universe to let God control it. We are so used to wanting everything our way on our terms that we do not realize that we are to do things his way on his terms. All attempts to bring Heaven on Earth apart from the way he’s recommended actually lead to Hell on Earth.
And what then will be the best way to begin this process? We begin by loving our Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths. We then turn and love our neighbor as ourselves. It is a simple method, but sometimes it is the simplest steps that get left out in our day-to-day lives.
Support Deeper Waters on Patreon!
