Heaven

If today there are Christians who do not take their faith seriously, one reason could be that not much thought is given to heaven. There is even a box office hit movie which is entitled, "Heaven Can Wait." Yes, for many, heaven is some distant reality worth thinking about only when one is neither old or sick, when death has become a matter to think about.

People wouldn't want to think of heaven while they are young and strong because they feel that there are more pressing and urgent things to think about on this earth. Already, life on earth has so much to offer, so why think of heaven? Yes to many, heaven may as well wait.

When we want to think of heaven, however, we should rather not think of it as something ever so distant; nor should we think of it as some faraway place where all kinds of activity cease, where all excitements are muted, where one has nothing to do any more but sit around and stare at angels and saints.

When we look into ourselves, we discover one thing in particular: our brokenness. Something in us tells us that we are not meant to live and die in that brokenness. Something tells us that somewhere in our growing up we would reach the experience of wholeness, of unity and, above all, of communion with life itself and with the rest of all living things. Something in us tells us that all our miseries are not meant to last forever; that all enmities will cease, and that peace will settle and become permanent.

It is strange that Jesus did not speak of heaven in terms of delights and pleasures. Instead, He spoke of heaven in terms of relationship and communion with the Father, whose love is forever and is all-merciful and forgiving. "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not die but may have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Heaven, then, is to live in loving relationship with the Father, something which has been made possible when God revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, His Son, and made us brothers to Him and sons to Himself. Heaven is living the life of God, which we experience vaguely now but which will be revealed in all its grandeur.

Very dimly, we do experience heaven now, especially during those moments when we are in communion and in peace not just with the persons loved, but also with ourselves and the rest of creation.

Heaven is something I can choose to live now, because now I have the power to accept the relationship God offers through Jesus, which is being preferred by the Spirit present in the goodness every person possesses in his heart.

"Anyone who loves Me will be true to My word, and My Father will love him; we will come to Him and make our dwelling place in Him." (John 14:23)