Heaven is so boring ... Isn't it?

I can't imagine being a Christian, and going to live in heaven forever. Why would I even want to?
I mean after all, Isn't heaven boring? Why would I want eternal life? Why would I want to live forever?
This life is pretty bad. I can't even imagine being stuck in the same old routine forever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and ...

That's the sort of comments I hear both from christians and from non-christians. Hopefully by the time you've finished reading you will have a little better idea of what heaven is about, and how it might be the best place ever.

Let me tell you a pretend story about Charlie. Charlie is a 10-year old boy, who grows up in a pretty ordinary family with a mum, and a little sister. His dad left a couple of years ago. He doesn't like his family a whole lot, but hey, they're all he's got. In fact, sometimes home is the last place on earth he wants to be. But there's one bright spot in his week.

A couple of months ago, another boy in the neighborhood, Jared, asked him "Hey, do you play tennis? Do you want to come have a hit around - if you've got nothing better to do?". Well, Charlie didn't play tennis, but he didn't have anything better to do, so he said "Sure, why not!". He ran back to the shed, found an old racket he'd seen there, and went along.

So each Saturday, Jared yells out to Charlie, and off they go to have a hit around. Jared's pretty good at tennis, not like Charlie, but they hit it off, and become good mates; so it doesn't matter so much about the bad tennis he plays; although he's getting better - much better. As Charlie improves, he starts to dream about becoming a famous player, and escaping away from home.

I'm not much of a story writer, but I wanted to set the scene for you. Here's Charlie, and at the moment, tennis is the most important thing in his life. For you it might be quite different. But stop and think:

If you could meet anyone in the world - anyone - who would you want to meet? For Charlie, it's the famous tennis player Rafael Nadal. He's seen him play a couple of times on TV,  watched some of his trick shots on YouTube, and wondered if there was any way he could ever get to meet him in person.

Then one day it happens. Rafael Nadal is doing an exhibition match in his city, and there's an opportunity for 1 local tennis boy to meet him one-on-one after the match. Charlie's name gets put in the draw with everyone else and believe-it-or-not. He wins!

How would you feel if you'd just been given a chance to meet the one person in the whole wide world that you wanted to meet, but thought you would never ever get to?
THAT would be like HEAVEN wouldn't it!

Charlie couldn't believe it at first. How could this ever happen to him? I mean nothing cool or exciting happened to him! Until now. And he was allowed to bring a friend along. WOW! Immediately he raced around to Jared's place. "Guess what? Guess what?". He could hardly contain himself. And without even waiting for Jared to answer he began to tell him all about it. Jared was pretty excited at first, but as he listened to Charlie tell him all about it, his face began to fall - but not for long. Because finally Charlie got to the bit about "... and I'm allowed to bring a friend along. So would you come with me?".
And now there were two excited boys, over the moon, high as kites, grinning from ear to ear.

What about you? If you just got the greatest news ever, about meeting the one person you wanted to meet, who would you immediately tell? And if you were allowed to bring a friend with you, who would you invite? Your mate, your brother, sister, mum, dad? But maybe you don't have a friend like that. Maybe there's no-one you would want to invite. Or maybe you tried, and your friend turned you down.

But imagine if you did have such a friend ... and that friend was always with you ... and you could share anything with them ... and they never got mad at you ... and they never left and moved to a different school, or a different city - but were always there whenever you needed them ... you know, best friends 4ever, always 2gether, closer than facebook ... If you had a friend like that, well ...
THAT would be like HEAVEN wouldn't it!

 OK. Time to ramp it up. The big day finally comes. Charlie and Jared watch the exhibition match. It's great, but really they just want it to be over, so they can meet the man himself. They get the meeting, they drill him with questions, and ask him everything they could possibly think of. It's the best time ever, but pretty soon it's all over. Rafael's manager comes in and taps him on the shoulder, and says it's time to go. As he leaves he turns to them and says,

How would you boys like to join me tomorrow at 6am for a private training session? I'd like see what you two boys can do?
THAT would be like HEAVEN wouldn't it!

But wait there's more. After meeting together, Rafael says he will be back in their city in 3 months time. He's decided that there's more to tennis than just playing, and being the best in the world himself. And so he's committed to start-up a tennis training academy in your city and wants you to join. He's promising to give you weekly training sessions.

That's got to be HEAVEN doesn't it!

There's only one problem with the above story. IT'S ONLY A STORY. And in that story there is only one lucky person which means everyone else misses out. And that is what only makes it like heaven and not actually the same as heaven. That is why it's only a fairy tale and not the truth. Because the truth is far more real than that.

The truth is that Jesus is God, and God is divine which means he has no limits. The limit in our story was that it was only like heaven for one person, Charlie. But when there's no limits, then it can be heaven for everybody - you included. Yes YOU! Here's a few home truths that Jesus shared to help us understand.

John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they may know you Father, and Jesus Christ whom you sent.

Jesus is saying that eternal life is knowing the Father, and Jesus. In plain terms, it's all about relationship. Remember the best friend scenario. Everywhere Jesus went he kept saying I'm here to show you what my Dad is like. i.e. Jesus thought his Dad was the most awesome ever, and he wanted you all to join his family and enjoy hanging out with them forever. Think about a child that's been raised in an orphanage without a family of their own - the best news that could ever get is to hear that a family wants to adopt them. You may not be an orphan, but the God, creator of the universe, number one, the I AM, want's to adopt you into his family forever. That is Heaven!

Eph 2:7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Jesus is coming to spend the coming ages showing us the incomparable riches of his grace. Here's how I like to imagine this. Jesus is our event planner, who plans new and exciting events for us. Jesus, who is so creative that he gave every person unique fingerprints, is in charge of the entertainment for all eternity. There is no way that we'll ever get bored in heaven.

In Rev 4:8 it describes 4 of the creatures that get to live in God's presence around his very throne. Every time they turn around and get another glimpse of God they are absolutely blown away and they can't stop saying "Holy, holy, holy ...". No matter how many times they look at God, His beauty takes their breath away and they fall on their face in amazement and worship Him.
That is what Heaven is like. Can you imagine it? Never ever getting bored, not even once, but constantly wanting to go back just for another look. That is our God and our Father.

And it keeps on getting better. Rev 21:3 describes something so amazing I can hardly believe it. God is moving in with us. He so enjoys and is so looking forward to our company that he is literally moving his throne from heaven to earth to live with us forever. Our God is not distance, far off, stand-offish. He is personally wanting to come to be with us where we are. After Jesus return, it won't satisfy him for us to go to live with Him. He wants to come live with us. That kind of love seems beyond belief. It is Heaven!

Do you get the picture? There is no better place you could ever be. It's all your dreams come true. It is what  you were made for. We all were made to enjoy company with God Almighty, the creator of all things, who loves us so much that he's leaving his own home to move in with us on a new earth (major upgrade on the current one). Jesus the most creative person ever is in charge of entertainment so there's no chance of boredom. We get to enjoy a friendship like none other, and it will only grow deeper and more enjoyable as time goes on. This earth is only the warm-up game, the practice run, the prototype for the real thing - which is spending eternity with the God who is love!

And all we have to do is accept God the Father's invitation to join his family. We do this by honoring the father's eldest son - which is Jesus. You must simply believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that he died on the cross for all the stuff you did wrong, and then when the penalty was paid in full, Jesus rose again to prove he was God's son. If you believe that, and ask Jesus to be your Lord, then you join his family FOREVER!
Go on. Come and join the family - the best family ever. It's a decision you'll be glad you made for the rest of eternity.

The secret ingredient - Part II

Last time I introduced the secret ingredient, the little used habit of praying in tongues, and explained how much it meant to me personally. How've you been getting on? Have you started? Did you set your alarm clock? I hope so.
Now I want to share with you some of what the bible says about this secret ingredient. Paul goes into a lot of detail about this in 1 Corinthians 14.

What is tongues?
Tongues is a supernatural language that you speak that you didn't learn with your natural mind. Normally we learn to speak a language by growing up in an environment where it is spoken. Our language starts very small with baby-talk which are really just sounds and not actual words. And then the day that all parents remember - he just spoke his first word. We excitedly call in our friends and family, and try to get our baby to repeat the noise he just made. But he's decided that he won't. Or maybe our friends and family tease us that it was only our imagination. But sooner or later all babies learn to talk - and they learn to talk the same language that their parents are speaking in front of them.
As babies we don't consciously put in effort to learn the language; all the effort seems to be on the part of the parents coaxing the child. We simply learn by being in our family and hearing the same sounds repeated over and over. Eventually we learn that the sounds are related to real things, and bit by bit our minds connect together and we learn more and more words, and eventually the whole language.

Tongues is the same but different. It's the same in that tongues is a language and it has meaning. And also because we end up speaking the same language as our father - God. Because God is a spirit it's not surprising that he gives us a spirit language to communicate to him with.
The difference is that we don't learn the language with our natural minds. The words come not from our minds but come direct from God's Spirit into our spiritual mind, which we then hear and speak out loud.

Now if you're a smart fella who thinks he/she is pretty clever, then that sounds ridiculous. However, remember that Jesus said in Luke 18:17 "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”. Tongues is a real humbling experience, because we have to receive the gift like a little child. It doesn't make a lot of sense to our great big intelligent adult minds. How can speaking in a language I don't even understand help me? The answer is quite simple if you remember that you're born again.
The part of you that got born again was not your body, or your mind. It was your spirit. And just like speaking in a known language will help your natural mind grow, in the same way speaking in an unknown  language helps your spirit grow. (It's unknown to your mind but known to your spirit).

Who are we speaking to?

1 Corinthians 14:2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.

This verse is vital to your understanding of the purpose behind tongues. When you speak in tongues you're not speaking to the people around you. You're speaking directly to God. And it's normal that no one understands you. I know that sounds backwards, but God is way more intelligent than us, and if that's the way he designed it then I'm not going to argue with him.

Again, who are we speaking to? We are speaking to God.

What am I saying?
If I don't understand the language with my mind, then it's only natural to ask What am I saying? The last part  of the above verse gives us the answer - he utters mysteries with his spirit. i.e. we're speaking mysteries.
Think of one of those detective whodunit movies. All throughout the movie there are clues pointing to the mystery, and right at the end the hero puts all the clues together to explain the mystery. We watch the movie because we know all will be revealed in the end. We don't give up and say what's the point in these clues - they don't make any sense. We know that eventually all will become clear, because it's supposed to be a mystery.


Guess what - exactly the same here. We speak mysteries. And at the start our natural mind has no idea what we're talking about. But later on, all the clues will come together and we will understand.

1 Corinthians 14:13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. 

The word interpret there is important. It's not translate. We don't get a word-for-word translation through each clue of the movie. It's only at the end that everything makes sense. And as you pray in tongues, you're speaking lots of clues in this spiritual language. Eventually your mind will understand, but not until later.
In the movie we have to wait for the hero to reveal the answer to the mystery. In tongues our hero is the Holy Spirit. He's sent to guide us into all truth. But in true mystery fashion he waits until we have enough clues so that it will all make sense. It may take several hours, days or even weeks of praying out all the spiritual clues before the Holy Spirit is able to piece the spiritual mystery together and present them to our natural mind in a way we can understand.
But oh boy! When that happens! It's like a bomb going off on the inside of you. Suddenly it all becomes clear. It's like the difference between night and day. You have an aha moment, and it all makes perfect sense. In fact you can't imagine why you didn't know this before. Surely everybody knows this mystery - it just all makes sense. All the pieces fit together - no pieces left out.

I guess you get the idea that I like it when the answer to the mystery comes. It's worth waiting for.

Which mysteries?
So I hope you believe me when I say you're speaking to God not people. And you're speaking mysteries. But what mysteries are you speaking?
Obviously God is all knowing, so it's not a mystery to him. And it's not a mystery to the Holy Spirit. But it is a mystery to us (remember - our minds don't understand what we're saying) and to others. The mysteries are truths of the spirit.

1 Corinthians 14:14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays,but my mind is unfruitful. 

 When your spirit prays, it uses spirit words, and it's about spirit matters. The mysteries are about the spirit realm that you've been born again into. Our natural eyes cannot see angels and demons. Our physical eyes cannot see God or satan. But believe me, they're real. And when we're born again we have a knowing deep down on the inside of us, in our spirit, that God is real. We know this because we can see him with our spirit eyes. And know Him with our spirit mind. Our natural mind senses this knowing, and believes, but naturally speaking, our mind sure would like to see physical evidence and not have to rely on invisible spirit evidence.

Too good to be true?
And the most important spirit truth or mystery that we are praying is the truth about Christ.

Colossians 1.27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

My natural mind cannot understand how Jesus Christ could give his life up for me, and die in my place, so that I could be reconciled to God. My natural mind says "If you knew me, you would know I'm not worth that much". It is a complete mystery how God could love us so much that he could allow his Son to be killed on a cross, but it happened. God loves you that much! It's beyond belief.
God knew that it would be hard to understand in our natural mind. So He gave us a special language, with special terminology, that could precisely describe exactly what God did for us - it's called tongues. As we speak in tongues, we're speaking the mystery of all that Christ did for us, and how he is the hope of glory.

To think that one day, Christ will return to this earth for us, and then he will finish the job he started.
When we were born again we got a brand new, top-of-the-line, latest-model spirit. But in case you hadn't noticed, he left you in the same old physical body with it's aches and pains. But when he returns ... we get the whole enchilada. No more sickness, disease, physical weakness or disability. No more tears, emotional stress, anxiety or worry. It will be glorious which is why it's called the hope of glory.

So do you like mysteries?
God knew that it wouldn't always be easy being a christian. It's a whole new culture - a new family - with different goals and values. It's a new realm, or dimension. Although we cannot see the spirit realm, we now belong to it just as much as we belong to the natural or physical realm. You may feel like a fish out of water, but believe me you were born for this.
God gave you a fool-proof method of learning about this new family - the family of God - that you were born into. God didn't discriminate against the young, or the old, or the clever, or the not-so-clever. He gave you a means of finding out all the mysteries, everything there is to know about Jesus Christ, and how to piece the clues together. It truly is the secret ingredient.
As you pray in tongues you speak the spirit truths in a mystery, not to other people, but direct to God. And in time, when you're prayed out enough clues, then the Holy Spirit comes alongside, pieces them all together and explains the mystery to your natural mind.
The more you pray in tongues, the more clues you are giving to your spirit, and the smarter spiritually you will become. (By smarter I mean that you will come to know and enjoy relating to God more).

So what are you waiting for? Start now.

Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. [39] The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 

 God doesn't have favorites. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It cannot be earned. It's freely given, to anyone who repents of their sin, and puts their trust in Jesus Christ. And you too can start to understand the mysteries of all that Jesus Christ has done for you!