Changing view of heaven...

My View of Heaven is changing. I was reading a book about heaven. It was talking about what the scriptures say about it. The book was trying to encourage its readers by making the place more real by giving the physical biblical descriptions of the place because it is harder to be motivated by something abstract that can't be understood. I must confess that for me the book was quite the opposite.

I have always held to the idea that heaven will be so wonderful and so wholy other that I cannot imagine what it will be like. Truthfully, this is not the attitude of scripture. One time, when I was a boy, I asked my mom if I could have a Ferrari in heaven. My mother, in her wisdom, told me, "If you still need a Ferrari to be happy in heaven, then you will have one."

After being challenged by the idea of this book I sat and pondered my own idea of heaven. Why would the very descriptions of heaven from the Bible itself be discouraging for me? What was my view of heaven? I discovered that my view of heaven included being able to travel through all creation and ruling over parts as God's representative. The Bible, on the other hand, describe a new heaven and earth and we are normal, human citizens of a physical city. We are still human, still have hands and feet, still cannot fly... This just didn't fit my expectations. I then began to investigate the root of my expectations. Could the enemy have snuck into such a holy thing? I concluded that my thoughts of heaven may be tainted by ORIGINAL SIN! The sin of wanting to be like God.

I have such a desire to shed the limitations of my humanity to achieve something more. This may sound admirable but why should I want to achieve more than I was created to be? how much more would I want to achieve? If I understand my fallenness, then nothing will be enough and I would want to continue to achieve a higher plain until achieving some sort of deity. Now do you see the common roots to original sin? In my view of heaven!

God created me to be human and I should ascribe to be nothing more than he created me to be. Yes, I should long to shed my sinfulness but remember that sinfulness is not the original design of being human. I should long to achieve my created role as re-perfected human. Does that mean I can fly? or bend reality like the silver surfer? or have the powers of Superman? Humanity was never designed to do that. Humanity was designed to bring glory to God by ruling over the created earth. In heaven we will still be human.

Granted, things will be much different and better than in the beginning with Adam, but that does not include "superhuman powers" or deity qualities. Will I always be bound to walking a terrestrial globe and experience eternal life in a very similar way to how I sense this current life? Maybe, maybe not. The scriptures definately lean toward this end. The point is that my joy should be based in perfected relationship with my creator and serving his original created purpose for humanity and nothing more.

Eating everything I want gets me fat, eating right gets me healthy and feeling good. I don't even need to give an example story to understand getting everything you want opposed to having everything right. I am and will always be a limited being. Now, and always, I will have to trust the only unlimited being who loves me deeply to provide for me what is truly best and right. My joy in heaven will not come from having everything I want but from having "everything right!"