Ghetto Heaven

Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

According to a survey in the L.A. times, for every American who believes he is going to hell, 120 believe they are going to Heaven. Everybody wants to go to heaven. Who wouldn’t want to escape the difficulty of this world and live in a place of perfection?  But not everyone who wants to go to Heaven is going. Only those who chose to worship Jesus here will be allowed to worship him there.

To be sure, heaven is a place where God will wipe away every tear. No more pain. No more sorrow. No more cancer. No more heart disease. No more still births. No Alzheimers’s, No depression or anti-depressants. No loneliness. No fear of devastating tornados or earthquakes. No terrorists. No fat grams in Krispy Kremes. No polarizing politics. There certainly won’t be any politicians because there will be no liars in Heaven. There won’t even be any preachers in heaven because there won’t be any sin to preach against. We will all be worship leaders.

But why? When we think of heaven we tend to think of all the benefits to enjoy for ourselves in heaven. But in heaven you will not have a single thought of yourself. That’s what got Lucifer and one third of the angels kicked out of heaven! You see, in heaven every thought you have will be of God.

The removal of sin, pain, and heartache is for the purpose of freeing you to worship God without distraction. Heaven exists for the unhindered worship of God by his completely perfected creation. In Heaven God receives unhindered worship from us while we receive unhindered joy in Him.

Maybe you aren’t really that passionate about worshipping Jesus here on earth but think that God has a special “scratch and dent isle” in heaven for remedial, sub-par worshippers like you. You think, “I would be happy if Jesus would just let me live my life on earth without radical abandon to His Lordship then just let me live in ghetto heaven for eternity.”

You don’t get it! Heaven is not a place where God makes much of you. Heaven is a place where you will make much of God. If you haven’t found the joy of making much of him here on earth what makes you think you will enjoy heaven where unhindered worship will be our eternal job description.  Why wait? Give yourself to the worship of Jesus in preparation for heaven.

Don’t be content with ghetto worship as a ghetto Christian in ghetto heaven.