Heaven. Has anyone thought about it? Have you been afraid to think about it? Or really excited? I have become, over this last year especially, super excited. I have heard talks and read about heaven. I have recently been through the book of Revelation, and I have been getting more and more excited. One of the talks I heard spoke of Jesus finally being crowned king. There will be a celebration beyond anybody’s understanding. It will be a party that will last an eternity. The new earth will come and Jesus as the bridegroom will marry his bride, the Church. The talk I heard by Roger Hershey this past November was about the things we do for Christ. In his book, “Don’t Waste Your Life,” John Piper describes a plaque that was on his wall at home growing up that said, “Only one life, ‘Twill soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last.” The point made by Hershey was that at the end of your life, all that you have will be burned up, but what you did for Christ will be refined like gold in fire. How much that will withstand the flame will be determined by how much you did for Christ. What you did FOR HIM? That will count. It’s like in the parable, found in Matthew 25:14-30. The man called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. One received five bags of gold, another two, and another three. When the master returned to settle accounts with his servants, the one that had received five bags of gold had gone out and gotten five more bags of gold. The master was pleased. “Well done, good and faithful servant!” he said. “You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” The one who had received two bags had turned it into four, and the master said the same thing to him. But the man who had received one bag had simply gone out and buried it, so he still only had one bag. Here are verses 26-33, that tell the master’s reaction: “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
Yikes. What do you do that is worthwhile? If your life were to burn up right now, what would stay? It is indeed something to think about. This does not at all do justice on any of the amazing talks I’ve heard or books about it, but this is just my little tad bit and something to think about. I have thought before about how awesome heaven will be, but I have remained present because of the simple fact that there are no lost or poor or people that will need our help in heaven. Our work here isn’t done. As Paul said in his letter to the Philippians: ” I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.”
A note: Just simply doing these things for Christ will not bring you to heaven. For more info on this, you can check out this article.
Anyway, this is the video that Hershey shared at the end of his talk. It made me pretty excited, and I would like to share it with you. You can pretty much parallel a lot to this scene (which is awesome, AND it’s from a really great movie). The crowning of Jesus, the universal excitement (and everyone will be there, praising God! Woo!), it has a mushy scene with Christ’s love (the church), and most of all, the honor that will be paid to those who did much for Christ while here on earth.
I encourage you to find out more about heaven, if you can. The book “Heaven Is For Real” by Todd Burpo is a good one, but there are LOTS out there! =)
Smiling always, Anna =)^2
Anna E. Meyer 