- Do you ever imagine what heaven is like? What will it look like?
- Are you excited about heaven? What will it be like to be there?
- Do you desire heaven enough to fight for it? What will God's presence be like?
Ch. 47: One must endure all burdens for the sake of eternal life. Do not let the tasks you have undertaken for my sake break you, nor trials totally get you down. Lower yourself to the ground and desire to be beneath everyone rather than be over even one single person. God is enough to give back to you beyond all measure.
[There is a day coming, the Day of the Lord. We were made for heaven. So what should you do? Do what you need to do, and bear whatever burden comes. Seek the lowest place. Humble yourself, for the last will be first, and the first last. Don't exhaust yourself by jockeying for position. Give up your spot for something lower. Why? For the sake of something higher. Be quick to step down, to stoop, to bend low beneath people you see as below you.]
Ch. 48: The day of eternity and the difficulties of the present life. When shall I be set free from wretched slavery to my vices? [Prayer of one in exile.] I am but a poor man exiled in an enemy land where wars rage daily. Whatever this world offers for solace is just a burden to me. I long to enjoy you intimately, but I cannot reach you. Temporal things and unmortified passions crush me. I wish to overcome all things, but in my flesh I'm forced to submit to them unwillingly. Oh, unhappy man that I am, I fight with myself. What inward suffering I endure when I consider heavenly things in my mind, and then suddenly a rush of fleshly matters (carnal thoughts) crowds all this out while I pray. Grant that I may despise the fantasy world of vices. Let all impurity flee before your face. I confess that I have gotten used to being very distracted. I am where my thinking is, and my thinking is often where what I love is. What I naturally like, or have learned to like (what has become pleasurable by constant use) is quick to pop into my head (Mt 6:21). If I love the flesh, I most often fantasize about things of the flesh. [I cannot do this by my own will power. I cannot white knuckle Christianity.
Ch. 49: The desire for eternal life and how great are the rewards promised to those who fight for it. [We need God's help and grace for it's a battle against all the things in us and around us. To fight for it, I have to desire it 1st. I can't desire it, unless I imagine it.] Do not ask for what is pleasant and advantageous to you, but ask for what is acceptable to God and does Him honor. Some people have a burning desire for things of heaven, yet they are not free from the temptation of fleshly affections. You must still be tried and tested on earth in many ways. There is hardly anything in which you have as great a need to die as seeing and suffering what goes against (contrary to) your own will. It seems hard to you to walk as another person chooses, and let go completely of your own way of thinking. [Heaven is greater than all the greatest wondrous things God created in this world.]
When was the last time you imagined what heaven is like? The promise of heaven is the day when all darkness will fade into everlasting light, boundless glory, and unshakable peace. As you await your true home, will you stay faithful in your daily life?
No comments:
Post a Comment