Posts Tagged ‘Randy Alcorn’

05
Sep

Slow Reader Thursday: Heaven by Randy Alcorn…

Remember how I said I was pulling a “Jonah” on one of the books about death that I was feeling that God wanted me to read? Well, I finally came out of the “whale” and read it this summer. Heaven by Randy Alcorn is that book. It took a while to read–473 long, small-fonted pages, without adding in the multitude of appendices. Maybe this was one of the reasons why I chose to “run away” from reading it???

Alcorn contends that there are actually 2 Heavens referenced in the Bible: the one we presently go to upon our earthly death and the resurrected “New Earth” that develops after Christ’s return. The New Earth will be much like our present Earth, except that it will be devoid of anything that resulted from evil on our current planet, such as pollution and warfare.

heaven

Perhaps Alcorn‘s most salient point is that we tend to think that Heaven will be boring, but when we assume that, we fail to remember how God created us–as endlessly learning, exploring, discovering, and yes, ruling people. If we are such people on the New Earth, then we will find Heaven endlessly fascinating, if for no other reason than we can endlessly ask all the questions we have on our minds. Thus, we should look forward to our time in Heaven and thus, be a people who does not fear death.

Here are some of the quotes from Heaven that especially hit home with me:

1. “If God didn’t have a sense of humor, we…wouldn’t. That He has a sense of humor is evident in His creation. Consider aardvarks and baboons. Take a good look at a giraffe. You have to smile, don’t you?”

2. “The buds of this life’s greatest moments don’t shrivel and die; they blossom into greater moments, each to be treasured, none to be lost. Everything done in dependence on God will bear fruit for eternity. This life need not be wasted. In small and often unnoticed acts of service to Christ, we can invest this life in eternity, where today’s faithfulness will forever pay rich dividends.”

3. “…joy will be the air we breathe. And right when we think ‘it doesn’t get any better than this’–it will.”

Perhaps it’s time for you to stop being Jonah, too, and take a moment to learn about “Foreverland”, aka Heaven???