Like I said in my tweet yesterday, a while back a good friend of mine told me to pick up the book “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn. I was reminded about this when Pastor Rob Koke from Shoreline make a captivating statement in his message last Sunday. He said; “if you aren’t excited about bringing people to Christ, You might have a skewed view of what Heaven is really like”. Which is exactly what Alcorn addresses in his first couple chapters.
But how can we even imagine what Heaven will be like when it’s clearly stated in scripture that “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” ? (1 Cor 1:9 NLT) Because of that verse, I, like most believers, have come to the conclusion that we cannot fathom what Heaven will be like. If only I would have read the next verse in that passage: “BUT, it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets (1 Cor 1:10 NLT). WOAH!
So, last night while I was at barnes and noble waiting for some buddies, I pulled it off the shelf and got myself a coffee. Here are some of the key things I took away from the first two chapters.
-Where do we get all of our misconceptions about Heaven? “I believe there’s one central explanation for why so many of God’s children have such a vague, negative, and uninspired view of heaven; the work of satan.
-God tell’s us in Colossians 3:1 to set our hearts on Heaven- Confession- I can’t remember the last time I did that.
-The enemy uses naturalism to keep us from believing in heaven- basically, whatever cannot be perceived by the senses is imaginary (Alcorn gave a great illustration from The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis about this)
-Our minds are so much set on Earth that we are unaccustomed to heavenly thinking.
Pick up the book, its a big one, but you wont be disappointed.
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