Heaven on Earth

Have you ever dreamed under the stars and tried to comprehend how big this world really is? Or felt the power of thunder in your chest and shivered at the power of a Savior? Have you ever seen how the trees cut the horizon line in such a way that is so creative and beautiful?  So many people think its healthy to hate this world.  They say that anything of the world is evil.  Yet, everything in this world was created by God.  The people, the mountains, the oceans...the space that swallows us above!  We are hammered with the idea that we should be attached to nothing on this earth.  But I can't help myself from becoming attached to a creativity that can be seen on earth of unimaginable glory.  Far too often we forget that pleasure was created by God.  Sure we abuse those pleasures and fall into sin.  But, if it wasn't for people abusing God's creation, earth would be a pure paradise.  

If God created the universe and he created people, why on earth would we hate the world we live in!  Quite the opposite should occur.  We should fall in love with the Creator the more and more we discover the joys that are offered here, on this planet!  C.S. Lewis felt that the best time in life was spent sitting around with friends smoking pipes and talking.  It's one thing to say no joy can come from sin, but how can we say that no joy can come from the world that was created perfect!  Everywhere we look we can see the fingerprints of God.  It's no surprise to me that so many people have worshiped the sun, the rain, the moon.  These people recognized that something powerful was around them.  They just didn't realize that these things were merely creations from a true Deity.

The world around me makes me happy.  Music, nature, people...I'm tired of people trying to pretend the world around them isn't good.  We aren't on this earth to simply get through it and enter heaven.  There's so much more purpose.  Life was meant to be lived!  Life is meant to be enjoyed, sure there's suffering and pain and discomfort in life but all that is part of the beauty.  It's all part of this epic journey each one of takes through a world destined to be rescued.  When we embrace the world around us, we embrace the Creator of this world.  Shutting ourselves in simply neglects us from experiencing a mystical creation all around us, where at each turn we can learn something new about the God who created all of it.  When we push past the all the pain and the wrong in life and look to all the good in life, we can truly start to taste heaven on earth.