Do you look forward to going to heaven? Yeah, me too. Of course, you do know that we don’t get to be in heaven forever, right? After all, the heavens is where God lives, and the Manual tells us that after the End Days are completed and all has come to pass, the new Temple will be here on the new Earth, and we will each sit under our own fruit tree and enjoy the fruits of our labor in peace, forever. Israel is where we spend eternity.
For me, all that is anti-climatic. Yes, it’s true. As wonderful as God’s promise of eternal peace and joy in His presence is, what is really important to me is not the final destination but the possession of the ticket that gets me there.
Most of my life I had been searching for God. I wasn’t sure about His existence, and often I didn’t even want Him to exist. Mainly because I knew that that would mean I had to change, I would have to discipline and watch myself, be on guard every second for the rest of my life.
That doesn’t sound like a peaceful way to live.
But I didn’t understand that with the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) that ever-watchful lifestyle is easier. God’s very spirit is inside of me, slapping me upside the head whenever my natural tendencies want to show themselves. That makes it much, much easier to know when I am in need of guarding my tongue, as well as my attitude. And believe-you-me, as a native New Yorker, I got plenty of attitude, Buddy!
Now that I know the Lord, and that I have come to accept Messiah Yeshua as my Messiah, I am one of those that has done T’Shuvah (‘turned’ from my sin) and by calling on the name of the Lord, I am saved. That doesn’t mean I can go on sinning on purpose, or that I am not required to produce fruit to demonstrate and, quite frankly, prove I really meant it when I called on His name, but it does mean I have been given my ticket to Eternity.
I’ve got…my ticket to Paradise. Pack my bags, I’ll leave tonight. I’ve got…my ticket to Paradiiiiiise” (my apologies , Mr. Money)
Do you have your ticket? Oh, yeah, heaven is gonna be absolutely fantastic! It will be beyond what any of us can imagine. It will be eternal joy, peace, and we will still be doing stuff but we will love doing it. We will get to worship God right to His face, we will be (I think) back to the simple, agrarian lifestyle that gives one so much pleasure in seeing what one’s work produces, then enjoying the tastes and pleasure that comes from eating the fruits of ones farming labors. You know, Thomas Jefferson (remember him?) said that farmers were God’s chosen people- he wasn’t talking against the Jews, he was just demonstrating how wonderful he believed farming was.
Whatever heaven will be like, for me heaven can wait. It is after-the-fact wonderful because the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me, or ever will happen to me, is my salvation.
Note to Donna: I’m talking spiritually, Sweetheart. Of course, the best thing that ever happened to me or ever will in the physical world is you, Donna, my wife.
The greatest feeling I ever experienced was the moment I felt the Ruach HaKodesh enter me, and I have a constant reminder of it’s presence (meaning it keeps me in line all the time, because I need to be kept in line, all the time.)
So, as I said, heaven can wait because the most wonderful thing is that I am in! I have my irrevocable, guaranteed, no black-out date, fully redeemable and never-expiring ticket to eternity.
Does anything else really matter? If only I could keep in mind how insignificant and silly everything I am going through in this life will be once I turn in that ticket. That’s the real peace we get while we are still on Earth. Maybe that’s why Shaul said he knew how to be satisfied in every situation- he was able to stay focused on the future. He knew that nothing that happens here on Earth will matter or even be remembered, for all we know, once we are resurrected and with the Lord.
I think that’s the takeaway for today: if you’ve got your ticket, stay focused on that. You’re there, you’ve got your seat and nothing else from this point forward is as important as owning that ticket. The more fruit you produce, the better you can upgrade, but still- when all is said and done, you only need to remember that ticket and nothing the world throws at you should be so bad anymore. There is peace in knowing you are already there. Man-Oh-Manischewitz, life is really not a problem when you know that God’s got your back.
Does God have your back? As you are reading this can you say you are saved? If not, are you afraid of it? I was. But there is nothing better. The world stinks, and life is hard. Being saved won’t save you from life, only from death, and being saved can make life so much easier to live through. Read some more of this stuff in my older posts, read the Bible (that’s the best source), ask people you know who are Born Again (if you don’t know anyone like that, find someone. We’re all around), and start to think about your future. It’s not something that you can just do when you get the time because you don’t control time.
Waiting is stupid, so be smart. The journey isn’t short, but I believe the time is, so you need to get started now!
