Thinking About Heaven

I didn’t blog about this earlier because I just didn’t have words to express my many and complicated emotions, but I received yet another several e-mails this week with sad news. The beloved minister of music from the church where we were members in Florida before we moved here passed away suddenly from a heart attack last weekend. That church has experienced so much sadness in the past year, and my heart hurts for them, but I do know that we do not grieve as those who have no hope. This news was very hard for me this week because I had been a member of the choir there and we were there when Simeon first came to Bell Shoals Baptist, and choir was kind of my family away from home. I know that the sadness I felt does not begin to compare to the sadness of his family and those still there at the church, but, still, I was so saddened by it, nonetheless. Today in church we sang a chorus that we used to sing at Bell Shoals and I cried, remembering Simeon singing it all those years ago, and then the choir sang a song that our choir there used to sing, too. I kept thinking that today he was worshiping his Lord and Savior in Heaven, and I was praying for the church in Brandon, too, as today was probably a difficult day for them.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Heaven for the past year or so, since the first time we got the shocking news that a close friend had died. I also read a Christian fiction book recently that tried to portray what Heaven may be like for a believer who dies. Though the book was interesting, and very well-written, I kind of wish I had not read it. All the neat ideas presented were still just that author’s ideas. I don’t think our not-yet-glorified minds can even imagine or comprehend what it will really be like, and I’m growing more sure that maybe we shouldn’t try too much to speculate awfully much. I’m not expressing what I want to say well. Let me try again.

Though I found that author’s ideas intriguing, I don’t like that by having read them I now find myself thinking of my friends who have passed on into the presence of the Lord with that limited view of someone’s imaginings about what Heaven will be. They are too limited. The Bible tells us what we need to know, but it does not tell us everything we will know one day or everything that God knows. The Bible does tell us everything God wants us to know about Him and Heaven, though. I believe there is a reason for that. So, I am not sure how beneficial it is that I read that author’s ideas, nice as they were. Because, nice as they were, they are extrabiblical. Maybe what I mean to be saying is that it is inevitable that we will speculate, but maybe we shouldn't get too consumed with our imagined thoughts. I know that Heaven is a wonderful place and that we will be present with the Lord, that I know. I know that we will be free from sin and able to worship Him in holiness and righteousness and truth. Much beyond that, I think I don’t want to speculate, because, no matter how holy my thinking, there is still so much man-centeredness that clouds my view. That is what I found in that book. Though a real and sincere attempt is made to glorify Christ, and I’m not judging the attempt, there is still too much man-centered speculation. How can we avoid that when our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His ways, and we still see through a glass darkly?

We do not grieve as those who have no hope, because we know that our loved ones who are in Christ are now with Him, and one day we will be, too. One day we will know Him as we are known. One day we who are in Christ will worship Him in truth and purity around the throne. One day every tear will be wiped away. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. I think that is enough for me today. I think I don’t need to fill my mind with speculations outside what the Bible says. My questions will be answered one day. Today, I need to obey what I know and worship Jesus in spirit and in truth and be content to know that He holds tomorrow in His hand. He alone knows the days of my life. May I be sober, alert and ready to meet Him when He calls me home to enter into the joy of His rest.