Faith Fridays Double Feature: Concerning Going Home (Part 1)

I realize that I missed a week somewhere along the road. So to make up for that, we’re making a double feature of Faith Fridays, the second portion coming Sunday. Today’s one is an odd one, but I still feel like I should do it. It is concerning this wonderful gift of Heaven that we as Christians have.

It is perhaps an odd thing to say that my home here on Earth is not my home. But since I came to accept Christ as my Lord and Savior, many things have changed. Now it does not feel so odd as when I heard others say it. I look forward to it in a way that I can’t describe. I love that Christ has given me the chance to do it, because it was completely unnecessary. It was unnecessary to save me from Hell because I did not deserve it. And yet he went even further and gave me a place in a perfect eternity. He could have erased me from existence after I died, which is a far better deal than eternal damnation. (There are some who hold to the theory that He actually does this, but we will come to that at a later time.) Yet, instead, he chose to not only save me, but adopt me as His own. What a wonderful opportunity.

I think many Christians, even those who are fully assured of their salvation, are still worried about death. But this is wrong! We should not at all be worried about it! There is no sadness, no pain, no judgment, and no turmoil, and yet we are worried? So why? I think the reason is that as children some were taught that all we do while in Heaven is pluck on a harp while we sing from a hymnal for eternity. Some were taught that we have different bodies and a total lack of free will so that we can never ever sin again. What ridiculousness! So let me clear up some things.

Yes, in Heaven we will be worshipping quite a lot, I imagine. This is not to say that everyone will be doing it all the time. Not everyone sings, nor can everyone pluck strings, but everyone has a talent. Everyone has a way of worship. Worship is not just singing. The definition of worship is “to show reverence and devotion”. But do married couples need to show devotion to one another by singing and playing the harp? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone doing that. I’m not saying that they don’t; it just sounds strange. We will be showing God our devotion and love for Him by just doing what we love to do! And we get to do that for eternity! How awesome is that?!

Another concept, that we have different bodies, must be explained better, if not totally refuted. I do not think by “new heavenly bodies” as spoken of in 2 Corinthians, it is to be understood that we will be unrecognizable. I am quite sure, in fact, that they are the divine form of the ones that we have right now. And even if they really are truly completely different bodies, I don’t think God’s going to give us one that doesn’t fit us well.

And finally, regarding free will – some think that since we cannot sin in heaven, we clearly do not have free will. The concept is that since Adam had a perfect body and was able to sin, we having perfect bodies in Heaven will be able to sin as well. Or shouldn’t we? But the answer is a simple no! Instead of having a regular human nature, we are given a divine nature. That’s a step up and above perfection. We still can decide what we would like to do, but we just have no desire to sin. And that’s not a problem, because with sin comes guilt and consequences, and everyone hates feeling guilt and having consequences. So I don’t personally consider that to be an issue.

And that’s the first part of this Faith Fridays talk! Check us out on Sunday to see the second part, where we talk even more about Heaven and have way more biblical references on the subject.