Heaven Is Getting What You Have Always Wanted.

I believe that there is a heaven and a hell. But, I do not think of hell as others do nor do I think of heaven as others do either.

There are those who go through their lives and seek out only that which brings themselves joy and happiness. Their sacrifices are only designed to better themselves or feather their own nests. They care for only that which betters their own circumstances and if doing something for someone else encroaches on any of this then, it simply will not be allowed to happen. They have long stretches of aloneness, isolation and selfishness broken up by short bursts of connection with other people. These occasional connections with other people are important because God made us all with an inherent need for connection and community. Without it, we loose our grip on sanity. Our world becomes lifeless and meaningless. Therefore, even the person ate up by selfish concerns know intuitively that some temporary self serving connection is needed to “stay in the game” to enjoy the kingdom they have built for themselves. Once the fix is in it is back to life as normal.

Then again there are those who go through there lives and seek to know and be known. They seek to live their lives with others. They pour themselves into the lives of others and seek to knit their souls to the souls of other people and live life together in community. They desire the richness, color and texture that others bring to life. They desire for everyone to share in this vision of peace, love and oneness. They desire to share the joy, the pain and the pleasures of life with others. They want to work together, live together, eat together and rest together. They want to talk together and sometimes they just want to sit together without a word spoken and just watch the clouds roll by. In short they want to walk down life’s road in a group. A group of friends whose desire it is to feel and experience life together. But, like the selfish person you will find that this life does not work this way. You find that even though you want this, there are times when it seems out of reach and it hurts. It is probably the kind of pain that Christ felt when God turned his face from His son and allowed Him to die … alone. It is a profound sense of separation. It is an ungodly evil aloneness that cannot be described. And it does not matter if it is a short separation or a long one, it hurts just the same.

When this life is over God will evaluate our lives and the choices we have made. We will be in one of these two camps. We will either be the one who sought to make our lives comfortable no matter the cost or the one who sought to live in community (you will be either one or the other never both). When this determination is made, God will give you what you have always wanted. Some will be separated forever to live in their own little world never to be bothered by the concerns of others for all of eternity. For others they will get to live in unbroken nonstop community where they can live their lives with others uninterrupted for all of eternity. Both will receive what they have always wanted. Sounds like heaven for both. In a manor of speaking it is. However, our souls were built for community. After a while the one who is given the life of separation they always desired will begin to notice that there soul is beginning to dim and die out. You see our souls are eternal and they can never die, but a soul without community, a soul without the rich color and texture, smell and sounds of life will slowly become meaningless, dry and dead while at the same time very alive. You see your soul was never designed to live alone. It was designed to be connected to others. Once separated it will not die, but will be lifeless. So you see heaven is getting what you have always wanted. And so is hell.