We all think of Heaven as a glorious place, high up in the clouds with big shiny gold gates and angels floating all over the place. I know I do. But today, on Easter Sunday, I heard a sermon that told me it was so much more.
This morning my family attended Austin Stone South Campus for their Easter service. The sermon was centered around 1 Peter: 1 (if you haven't read this verse, check it out it’s incredible.) Anyways, the preacher began to talk about struggles and how, when we are in the midst of pain, we should have joy. How could these oxymoron emotions occur at the same time I asked myself? As soon as these questions arose, the preacher began to answer them and this is what he said:
Heaven is a place where we, as humans full of hurt and sin and lust and impurities, are imperishable and undefiled. That means that no longer does sin kill and destroy, but instead, it merely does not exist in Heaven. That also means that there will no longer be cancer, Down Syndrome, heart disease, Ebola or anything else that causes pain. Everyone will be perfect and for the first time ever, we will get to look Jesus in the face and be fully delighted because we know that we can finally follow the first commandment and love Him with all our heart.
Heaven is also a place for everyone, isn't that grand news? Heaven is a place for the weak, the strong, the poor, the rich, and especially the broken. As long as you accept Jesus as King in your heart, you get to rest in paradise with Him for eternity. This life is so short compared to what’s to come. This life is so bad compared to the glory and love you will know in Heaven. That is why Peter says to celebrate throughout your struggles. James 1:2 says “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” Every trial you face only brings you closer to God, and that my friends is something to constantly rejoice about.
Jesus is a King who rose from the dead, but unlike many others, He is still alive today and He is securing a spot for us in Heaven forever. Start being joyful about that in this life... after all it is quite something to be excited about! Hallelujah. Amen.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:3-7
