following him now, looking forward to looking at Him later

Looking forward to seeing Him? see and live it NOW, HERE!

In class today I was asked about heaven and hell. I try to keep things boiled down to that which I can be pretty sure sometimes. (There are times where its okay to speculate, as long as one clarifies that they are indeed doing so, and for the sake of delving into deeper understanding). Anyway, I made the comment that one should be careful in relegating a person to the bad place (as well as sending them to the pearly gates) and one of my sharp students asked why. I replied that we only know the heart of one person, us. And that, while we cannot look into the heart of another, we can look at life and words and get the idea of where they are with God... but I added we can't know, so its best to play it safe... then I said what I've said in many funerals, where ever they are, I believe they want you to know the truth. One student pointed out the Jesus told a parable to that effect, and she was right, He did... but then the question of what these people are experiencing came up... and I stumbled into this idea... those in the presence of God have a single focus... God, as they are "face to face" (whatever that means) they are not in the least thinking about anyone or anything but God, for finally, they are engaged in that for which they were created... worship of Him! And for those other folks? I suppose the converse is true... And isn't that a very similar comparison to now...

here on this planet, in the now, the here, we who are privileged enough to be followers of Him, should have our focus less on us and our stuff and more on Him... because we have a joyous life to live here!!

...Yancey said 'Some of us seem so anxious about avoiding hell that we forget to celebrate our journey toward heaven. Others of us, rightly concerned about issues in a modern 'culture war,' neglect the church's mission as a haven of grace in this world of ungrace. (What's so Amazing about Grace? p. 14) and that is so true... this journey we are on is awesome, the blessing we have, this life which I called the second kind of Grace is so incomparably better than the alternative... and serving Him is too!

Looking forward to seeing Him? see and live it NOW, HERE!