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It's what we do,  life itself is one of the many ways that we mark time. Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, memorials - they all mark time.  Is it any wonder then that one of the components of the hope of heaven we experience is the hope of time.  Knowing that we won't be limited by the amount of time we have.  If you ask a million different people what they think heaven will be like you'll likely get as many different descriptions of "doing" something - without end, no time limit.

We were created as eternal beings.  The question we need to ask ourselves is where will we spend that eternity?  As Christians we believe we will either spend it in heaven or hell.  There's been a lot of time and energy spent trying to figure out or describe what both might be like.  Yesterday I listened to a podcast by Chip Ingram - Why I Believe (in Life After Death).  He said something that got my attention.


"When you die, you will have an extended capacity to know him and enjoy him and worship him. And actually get to work. Heaven is not sipping iced tea and floating on clouds. Heaven is going to be…there’s an intermediate heaven but heaven will be a new heaven that’s very concrete that has culture and life and music and food and jobs and rewards and God’s presence. You will have an extended capacity forever and ever to enjoy that."

Extended capacity  -  time.  I don't know about you but that makes me happy, hopeful.  There are a lot of things I hope to do in this life and I know I'll never accomplish many of them. I have this hope that I will have time - an extended capacity - to accomplish them and fulfill the deepest yearning and longing of my heart - to know him and enjoy him and worship him.

"if your yearning was to draw near to God and you’d received his forgiveness and you wanted to know him and you found yourself saying I want to get to know God through his Word and I want to be around the community of God’s people and, sure, it’s three steps forward and two steps backward - but the deepest yearning is to please God and to honor God and to love people and discover why I’m here and what’s my purpose and what are my spiritual gifts."

Love is a verb, we express love to others by our choice of actions.  Our spiritual gifts are given to us to benefit the body.  If then we have this extended capacity to love people and use our spiritual gifts, are we not going to be busy (in a good way!) in heaven?


We have all heard the phrase the greatest gift is the gift of time...  This gives that a whole new meaning.  In redeeming us on the cross, Jesus bought for us the gift of heaven for eternity- endless time spent in the presence of God.  It's our choice to accept the gift or reject it.  It's a good idea to know what that choice will mean, because it is final and it's eternal.


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