He tells us that we don't, of course. We can't earn heaven. We would have to be perfect, and none of us are. That's good news, because we get to experience the felix culpa, the "happy fault" of God's response to our sinfulness. We get to participate in the greatest story ever told - our redemption.
But what Lewis says about the first faint gleam of heaven, already inside of us, is where our lesson comes from today. See, it's a mistake to think that we earn heaven, because that puts heaven ahead of us, far down the road, as something to experience "one day". And there IS the blessed hope of the beatific vision to look forward to.
However, we see that gleam of present heaven in our lives now. We begin to experience His kingdom in our daily walk with Him. We start to see Him redeeming our lives even as we're living them. We see our relationships growing deeper, our minds being renewed, and our suffering being made meaningful, even as we walk this dark road through this valley of tears.
Lewis himself said that one day, a man in heaven will look back at his life and say he's always been in heaven. And a man in hell will look back and say that he's always been in hell. And both will be right. Redemption and damnation both work retroactively.
The happy thing is that we can ask Him to start redeeming us at any moment. No matter how dark your road or how copious your tears... ask Him today to redeem you and your life, and He will. You will start to see it now, and will see it finished on that glorious day when you see Him face to face.
God, thank you for the gleam that gives us hope and keeps us walking down this road.
1 comment:
Amen
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