Faith

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Heaven.

A word so familiar, it rolls off the tongue,
Translated,
by contemporary culture, to mean
bliss, beauty,
peace, tranquillity.
A word removed from its origins,
adapted, altered, demoted:
the name of high rise night clubs, heavy metal bands,
songs of dance and rap.
It is what you say when you sip cool lemonade in the shade on a hot day.

If we hold to the ‘quaint’ notion that is it a place,
we believe that, if we are clever, resourceful,
we can own a slice of it –
a corner of beauty to rest from our toils in this world.
We have a vague sense
that (if we are good and treat others well,
live the best life we possibly can)
we might earn
a pass through the pearly gates
as our life here fades, finally, away.

Are we so deceived?
How have we bought into such a cheap replacement,
a plastic, two-dimensional, convenience-store version of the truth?

Heaven.
Living, forever, in the presence of the Holy, Lord God Almighty.
Sickness, pain, suffering, cannot exist where He is.
Tears that flow so freely here, wiped, entirely, away.
A new body, made whole.
Light, glory, beauty, radiance, hope.
All the moments on earth
Where we glimpsed joy and splendour,
Rolled into one, long forever.
Angels.
Worship – heartfelt, unceasing.

So perfect, so holy,
that it is impossible, unthinkable, that any born on earth could ever arrive there,
with our baggage, our backgrounds,
our sin and shame.

Except…

Jesus,
Son of God,
Light of the World,
Lamb without blemish,
surrendered his position in this place
of grandeur beyond comprehension,
rank without equal,
life without sin,
to come to earth,
to live among us,
to die a painful, tortuous death,
so that all…
all…
all, who accept him and all that he did,
might follow him there,
where God,
who should condemn us all to eternal death,
admits us all into his perfect, glorious, radiant presence,
because he who had no sin, became sin for us all.

So, heaven.
A worthless proper noun?
An understated adjective?
A state we can never quite achieve?
Or a wondrous, incomprehensible, multi-dimensional, a-temporal, invisible, mysterious place,
where pain and suffering end
and we live forever in the presence of our conquering King?

Heaven.
Not found on earth or earned through deeds,
but given as a gift,
to me, and you,
if we will trade today,
our fruitless efforts to attain a papery substitute
for a surrendered acceptance of the Saviour’s perfect gift.

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