Revelation 21:1-2 1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Earlier on I saw this quote from @thomaschristianson:

“This world would be quite different if Christians would stop trying to get to heaven, but rather tried to get heaven to earth.”

This caused my mind to recollect some thoughts I’ve recently had around the concept of Heaven.

I was thinking that in popular media, art and culture and many times in the church, heaven is more often than not depicted as this fantasia of perfect looking people with wings living in this utopia floating in clouds with trees and gardens. Wonderful. The bible says no eye has seen, no ear has and no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9), so when we depict or exemplify heaven in these ways I think sometimes it restricts the imagination. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t use artist impressions or think upon heavenly thoughts, I’m just saying I think the afterlife will be much more and it will appeal to every sense of our being, spiritual and physical.

Heaven is where God (The Father, Son and Holy Spirit) abide. Though it is a beautiful place, according to the bible, ‘Heaven’ itself is not where we as human beings were created to be. That is where God lives. We as humans were created to live on earth, that is the earth as a paradise/perfect place that God created to be and personally, I think every human being has what I can only describe as a spiritual attachment, a love for this earth as our home, a love for life and living, and God created it to be that way. What God didn’t intend for us to become attached to are all the evil things, the natural disasters, the sickness and self satisfying indulgences that we’ve grown accustomed to.

This spiritual attachment and love for this earth I think is why we all have this innate fear of death and the unknown. We know that at death we will no longer be able to see the corners of the world we never had the opportunity to visit and explore or spend time with those we love.

If I take this a step further, many of us, particularly if we are not Christians have difficulty relating to the idea of going to this place called heaven which is often presented to us as somewhere off in the clouds where good people go after they die. For the Christian who has a better understanding of who God is, we have a longing to be with our creator God, so the idea of being in heaven is more about being reconnected with Him who made us, but that attachment to the earth as our home, I think deep down still remains.

The Good News is this, according to the Bible and its truths, God intends to restore this earth to its original glory, after the end of this life as we know it. Not to take us away to Heaven, although we will go there for a time.

It is actually God’s intention to come down and dwell with us, just as He did in the beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when he created in the world.

At the end of time, God promises make the earth new just as it says in Rev 21:1-2, so my point in this post is, if you at any point you find yourself admiring the finer things in life, and on this earth, if at any point you find yourself afraid of death, the afterlife and the unknown, just remember that God has it planned out, He wants you to have life, the finer things in it and much more. You can take comfort and rest in the truth which is that one day He will give it to you, if only you remain faithful and true to Him because he is the source of all that is good for you.

The Gospel According to Daniel J. Blyden. If you want to know more about this topic, message me and I we can talk.

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“Does ‘entertainment’ have a place in God’s kingdom?”

“Everything has a ‘Time and Place’… so where does Entertainment fit in?”

Personally, I love a bit of entertainment especially in a social setting involving those I know and love. My discipline is in an industry where the majority of its purpose is built on an obsession with being entertained therefore I understand how our lives can be saturated by entertainment and ‘having fun’ from a very small age. It is a major part of our contemporary culture.

In Christian circles there is always much debate about entertainment.Many use entertainment to escape the demands of life with its stresses, traumas and anxieties. However, some Christians brand theatricals, music and dramas as the devil’s tools distracting us from doing God’s work. Others claim entertainments can be used to glorify God, even spreading the gospel. And still, others believe that secular entertainment is fine, as long as it’s of clean content.

But what does God really think about entertainment? Is there a right time a place or context for entertainment? If so, where and when is it?  What type of entertainment is suitable for the Christian? Click Here to find out what people commented…

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