With the Lord Forever
Dave Faust
Remember how you felt when you were a child, looking forward to Christmas morning? Remember the fun of opening the gifts and celebrating with your family?
Joyful experiences take one of three forms: looking forward to an important event that will happen in the future, participating in something significant in the present, and looking back with satisfaction on something good that happened in the past. Only an eternal God could combine all three kinds of joy—future anticipation, present participation, and past recollection—into one never-ending experience of heavenly bliss.
Will Heaven be a bit like Christmas? No, it will be far more. It won't be the least bit boring—just sitting around on a cloud strumming a harp. Do you think it might be more like the following?
A person who likes to build things having all the time and materials he could ever need to construct great masterpieces.
A person who likes to read and learn having time to consume every book she'd ever want to read.
A person who enjoys athletics being able to run and jump without getting tired.
A person who likes to travel having unlimited opportunities to explore the vast array of God's "new heaven and new earth."
A person who enjoys music having unlimited opportunity to compose and perform beautiful songs of praise to God.
A person whose dreams and aspirations have been frustrated here on earth finding deep, unending fulfillment at last.
A person who has been misunderstood or belittled by others here on earth finding himself enveloped at last in God's abiding love.
A person who was blind on earth, now with wide-open eyes beholding the glorious colors and splendors of Heaven.
A person who was paralyzed or lame on earth, now leaping with joy and never growing weary.
A person who was lonely now enjoying sweet, untainted fellowship with dear old saints who served the Lord for years, and little children whose lives were snuffed out prematurely, and faithful servants of God who believed God's promises even when others around them succumbed to sin and doubt.
A person who asked hard questions, never felt completely content with the answers he received, yet trusted God anyway, finally experiencing a satisfied mind.
And all of us who've been saved by grace, worshiping the all-wise Lord who deserves all praise.
Whatever else Heaven may involve, one short sentence captures the essence of our hope: "And so we will be with the Lord forever" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Until that great day comes, let's follow the example of the shepherds who first heard "good news of great joy" from angels in the fields near Bethlehem. After the angels were gone, the shepherds left the manger where they viewed the Christ child and "spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed" (Luke 2:17, 18).
People are searching for the joy and hope Christ alone can give.
Spread the word.
This column first appeared in The Lookout on Nov 28, 1999.