Megan Marshman spoke at our church a few weeks ago and gave us the most incredible list of what Heaven is like.“Here’s what’s not there! Let me tell you what’s not there!...Here’s the things that will be no more in Heaven. John started it inRevelation 21. He says there will be no more mourning, crying, pain, death. Here, let me continue…There will be no more cancer, abortions, affairs, addiction, misunderstandings, heart disease, cerebral palsy, heart machines, foster care, family dysfunction…no more prescriptions, orphans, worry…anxiety, divorce, rejection, loneliness, feeling left out, arguments, suffering, longing… depression, wheelchairs, apathy, abuse, radiation, racism, anxiety,medication, middle of the night phone calls…laundry, diseases, curses, taxes, fear, fear of the future, striving, eating disorders, obsession over food, purposelessness, boredom…locks on doors…glasses, prosthetics…socially awkward…”
Her list goes on and on and on and I loved this image and it’s been rolling around in my heart for a whole month now just growing. Just thinking of this list and adding to it myself. No mowing the lawn, no alarmclocks, no washing ourselves, no bills, no bug spray or sun screen, no dishwashers…and my list could go on and on too.
It’s made me realize the reality of this earth that we livein. Have you heard this song by Josiah Queen called “The Prodigal”. I’ll attach it here if you haven’t, but the chorus says “I’m lost in a feeling that I ain’t from this world. Going back to Eden ain’t gonna be easy, but it leads me straight to you. Now I’m running home like the prodigal.”
This world really is soaked in sin. Eden wasn’t like this. Eden was perfect, beautiful. Adam and Eve walked in the cool of the day, naked. They didn’t have to cover their skin and protect it from the sun. They didn’thave to worry about bugs sucking their blood or washing their bodies. They didn’t have to toil to make the garden grow. They didn’t sweat or labor. They didn’t pay bills, worry about where they would sleep, or be concerned with what one another thought of each other. It was perfect, a world unstained by sin. And that is what Heaven will be like.
In fact, this world is so soaked in sin that we don’t even notice it. We’ve spent our whole lives compensating for the sin in this world.Think of it. You were born and the first thing that happened to you is you got slapped. Yes, it was in order to check and make sure you’re alive, but still. This is how we all enter the world. Sin slaps us immediately and then we spend the rest of our lives compensating for it.
We weed our yards so they won’t become overgrown. We clean our houses, because the dirt comes in. We wash our laundry, because our clothes are covered in sweat from the labor we’ve done. We toil at work to make money to buy food and clothes to keep living and caring for our families. We wake upin the morning with a task list that is miles long. We worry what others think of us. We try to be kind, not because we are trying to be representatives of Christ, but because we want to be liked. We fill our homes with things to distract us.
When in Heaven, there are no weeds. There’s no dirt in the houses. There’s no laundry. There’s no sweat. There’s no toiling or bills or need to buy or sell. There’s no mornings, because it’s always morning. There’s no task lists. There’s no worrying over other people. There’s no need to people please. There are no distractions or need for them.
We’ve been traumatized by sin. It’s soaked in the world and it’s overwhelming it. And yet God calls us to be in this world, but not of it. In Heaven, we won’t need to compensate, because sin will be gone. But while we are here, we are called to be here, in this place that is filled with sin, and yet not be of this world. Don’t allow the sin to be in control of us. Overcome sin and the world.
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