Thursday, April 21, 2016

heaven - have we ever wanted anything else?

Today, Lewis talks about Heaven in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He says that heaven is what we've been looking for all of our lives. And from reading his Narnia books, I know what we really means is that what we've been looking for all of our lives isn't a what... it's a who. We've been looking for Jesus, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, all of our lives. Because Narnia isn't Narnia without Aslan.

Do you think that's true? Are you glimpsing heaven and Jesus in all of the things you love in this life? Well, of course there are the things we love that we shouldn't. The alcoholic isn't looking for heaven in his wine bottle... or is he? What is he looking for there? Freedom from pain? Escape from the memories? Forgiveness for his past deeds, if only in forgetfulness?

Maybe we ARE all looking for God in our pursuits. After all, He IS goodness. He is beauty itself. He is what we mean when we talk about intelligence. He is all of the good things in the world, to the superlative degree. So in a way, you could say that you can't seek goodness in this life without seeking God.

But we can get sidetracked, right? We can put those other things in place of God in our lives. We can worship the creature, and forget the created. It's easy to do. Lewis talks about that, too.

However, God is always waiting for us. He is ready to forgive us for putting the other first - we only have to ask. He is the prodigal father, waiting for all of us prodigal sons to come to our senses.

And come home.

Thank You, God, for being the embodiment of all that is good.

No comments: