Category: Heaven, eternity and glory

  • I Can’t even Imagine

    This diptych (a work made up of two matching parts) shows two things. Firstly, it shows how my mind and imagination work. Second, it shows why it takes me a long time to walk in the woods. The right-hand side is obviously an ai generated visual of the sort of thing I imagine when I’m out in the woods.

    I have a pretty vivid imagination, but there are some things I cannot, for the life of me, get a grasp on. Here are a few.

     For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.1 Corinthians 13:9-12 ESV

    What will it be like when we see the Lord face to face and others fully modeled into everything God created them to be? I can’t imagine.

    Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  Revelation 21:1-4 ESV

    What will glory look like?

    For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 ESV

    How long is eternity?

    There are plenty of things about God, His Word and what is to come that I can’t fully grasp. I’m okay with that. I know it will be better than anything I can dream up, even in my vivid imagination.

    There are also some things I do understand. He loved me enough to come and die to free me. He seals me with His Spirit. He is shaping me into the image of His Son. I might not fully understand those things, but His Word, the testimony of the church, and what I have seen and experienced convince me of their reality.

    We don’t have to understand everything fully to know that Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to us. We don’t need to understand fully to share the truth with others.

    Don’t let what you don’t know hold you back. Read the Word, apply it to life and grow deeper in your faith. Give Him all the glory.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    My imagination cannot picture what it will be like to see the Lord face to face. I do not need to understand that fully to trust it, or to keep telling others about Him.

    TAKEAWAY

    Can you imagine what it will be like to see the Lord face to face, and to see others fully become everything God created them to be?

    You don’t have to understand everything fully to know that Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to you.

    Don’t let what you don’t know hold you back. Read the Word, apply it to your life, and grow deeper in your faith.

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  • Gold, treasure hunting and the kingdom of heaven

    A vial of Nova Scotia gold

    The little vial in the photograph contains raw gold. It was mined in a small private mine in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia gold is prized as some of Canada’s finest because of its warm, buttery color.

    I’ve always been attracted to bright shiny things. My mother used to tease me that I must be related to crows and ravens because they too are fascinated by shiny things.

    I’ve panned for gold and hunted for many other forms of treasure. I love semi-precious gems or even simply interesting-looking rocks and stones. I hate to leave a pretty rock behind.

    I’ve found dinosaur bones and fossils. I have stumbled across the occasional arrowhead and other artifacts. Old bottles and bits of metal have caught my eye.

    I have a small piece of driftwood that is actually a root. It is different because a rock is entangled in the root, and the root grew around it. It has no value other than to me, but it sparks my curiosity. 

    Old, rare, leather-bound books seem to call to me. I have this desire to collect and curate them for future generations.

    I love thrift stores, garage sales and auctions. Even if I don’t find something to buy I enjoy the thrill of the “treasure hunt”.

    Yet, as much as I appreciate such things, I know that their value is transitory. I don’t know that the streets of heaven are literally made of gold or the walls of precious stones, but the Bible uses that imagery. Certainly, the value of things will be inverted in glory.

    In this world people value things and use people. There we will use thing and value people. I know that saying is a bit cliché, but it holds truth nonetheless.

    At least two of Jesus’ metaphors about the kingdom speak of treasure seekers of sorts. Especially people who prize the earthly value of treasures.

    “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

    “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Matthew 13:44-45 NIV

    As much as they understood the value of earthly treasure, these men understood that the kingdom was of more infinite worth. It was worth everything they had.

    Jesus said,

    “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 NIV

    There isn’t anything new to us in these words. If we have been in church for any length of time, we can probably quote them and understand their context and meaning.

    Still, we are like sheep, easily distracted. Something shiny comes along and distracts us, and suddenly we have veered off course and are chasing the treasure of this world.

    There is no harm in owning some of the treasure unless they really own us. When we seek them to the exclusion of God, or we worry more about them than the things of God, we have a problem.

    Now, the earthly things that I consider treasures may hold no value whatsoever in your eyes. Still, we all need to examine our hearts to see what we place ahead of God. What treasures have become idols in our lives?

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    A vial of raw Nova Scotia gold got me thinking about my lifelong love of collecting treasures, from rocks to rare books. Jesus reminded me that the kingdom of heaven is treasure worth far more than anything we could ever dig up or collect.

    TAKEAWAY

    However precious, earthly treasures are only temporary. The kingdom of heaven is worth infinitely more than anything you could ever collect or own. 

    Loving beautiful or interesting things isn’t wrong in itself, but it becomes a problem when you value those things more than you value God. 

    Take time to examine your heart and ask what treasures may have quietly become idols competing with God for first place in your life.

    Celebrate your identity in Christ

    Is it right living or right belief?

    Our earthly treasures

    Flakes of mica

    Gold, treasure hunting and the kingdom