Waiting for Heaven

Google "Heaven" and you will get 597,000,000 results.

It seems that our culture, both Christian and non-Christian alike, is fascinated with the concept of Heaven.  And why not?  Who wouldn't want to think and talk about a place that is in every respect "perfect."  Because that's really what our goal is in life, to become as perfect as we can.

Now, obviously no one is "perfect."  That's how we always start our testimonies off anyway.  But think about it.  We are always looking for the "perfect" thing.  The perfect job.  The perfect spouse.  The perfect house.  Sometimes to make these aspirations feel more attainable we'll substitute the word "dream" for "perfect.  Because dreams come true when you wish upon a star...but nothing will be perfect, until Heaven of course.

While I'll be honest and confess that I too chase after many of life's perfections, I'll let you in on a little secret.

...I don't care about heaven...

I know this may seem slightly blasphemous, so allow me to clarify.  Heaven has become what Solomon would call a "chasing after the wind."  It's MEANINGLESS.  In Christian culture, it has become the norm for our goal to "get to Heaven."  We even root our message of Jesus in this concept by asking people the oh so insightful question of "if you died today, would you go to Heaven?"  After two centuries of God inspired wisdom and teaching, this is our trump card.

The tragedy in all of this is not that Heaven is not a worthy goal, or even that it is not important to the Christian faith.  The damage comes in how we subtly mold Heaven to be whatever we think is "perfect," and then try to convince others that they should try to get there some day.

The truth is that Heaven is a very real place.  Jesus talked about it... a lot!  However, when Jesus talked about Heaven, he didn't talk about it as if it were somewhere/ somehow/ sometime else; he talked about it as if he could see it/ hear it/ touch it now.  Its as if Jesus had these divine lenses that allowed him to see the potential that his audience had to manifest the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.  To Jesus, Heaven was not explicitly a place we go to, it is a place we bring with.  We have access to Heaven now and everyday that Jesus empowers us with his Holy Spirit.

Once we leave the old mindset of "waiting for Heaven," this allows us the capacity to participate in bringing Heaven with us wherever we go, much like Christ did.  Consider how much more beneficial we could be to our friends and family if instead of bothering them with the question of "are you going to Heaven?," we simply decided just to bring Heaven to them.  What a gift that would be, and how much more would they see the irresistible love of Christ through that action!

I challenge you to read the gospels and study what Jesus said about Heaven.  A great place to start would be Matthew 13.

"Crush the boxes, break the frames, dance off rhythm, don't be tamed"