Oooh! It’s Going to be Great!
1 Cor. 2: 9 ...Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him
The imagination is a powerful gift. I remember as a child climbing the willow tree in front of my grandparents’ house, swinging out on a limb, jumping down, then doing it again over and over. It was fun. One day I climbed up and swung out, but instead of letting go, I held on. Looking down I imagined that I was way up in the sky where airplanes fly and that the little creatures on the ground were people far below. After a while, I believed it so much that I cried for help and they had to come and take me down.
Imagination. We can make things up in our minds that can be so interesting and realistic. You see, God the Creator made us in His image. We are therefore creative and can see things in our imagination that don’t really exist. So people are able to make up stories and draw pictures and do other creative things. God likes when we use our imagination in positive ways.
When God spoke to us about Heaven, He wanted us to know it is a wonderful place. He knew that we would hear about milk and honey and streets of gold and so on, but those were the things that people liked back in Bible times. Those things don’t appeal to us now, but in Bible times they wouldn’t have understood if He told them about SUV’s and jacuzzis. So God simply said “It is better than you have seen, heard or imagined!” What have you imagined? God has given us the permission to let our imagination run wild when we think of Heaven.
I imagine living in my mansion, with a stove in my kitchen that will create new recipes by itself and a gungo-peas stew machine on the counter. Flowers outside will bloom a different colour every month and on my farm out back will be a pizza tree where the nicest pizzas will grow (without any cholesterol). I will fly without wings to visit my friends on various planets and pet the fish underwater in the river of life for an hour without coming up to breathe. My MP10 will show me 3D pictures of real things that happened in the times of Joshua and Daniel and I will be able to sing a quartet all by myself.
Now I hear you saying, “Stop! You’re crazy!” Well, it’s imagination, but Heaven is real. Think about it. Nothing is too hard for our Creator and He is going to do everything to make us riotously happy forever. Just imagine! By the way, I’m inviting you over to my mansion for dinner on our 1000th Sabbath after we arrive. We’ll talk about what we imagined and compare it to what is really real. Is that a date? Thank you. See you there.
Lord, I know that Heaven will be better than the best things I can imagine. Thank you for making it possible that I can be there, in Jesus’ name, amen.