from "deadline" by randy alcorn. this is a conversation between a guardian angel and the man who he guarded who died and gone to heaven at this point. instead of names, i will just say angel and man.
"I've learned a great deal since coming here to [Heaven]," said man. "I understand things so much more clearly than when I was in the other world. But there's still so much I don't yet know, so much I fail to understand."
Angel looked puzzled. "That surprises you?"
"Well, yes. It does, I always thought when we got to heaven we'd understand everything."
The angel made no attempt to hide his surprise at this statement..."Do you mean, " angel measured his next words, "that you thought you would be God?"
"Well, no. Of course not."
"Who but [God] understands everything? To expect to understand everything is to expect to be God."...
"But," man explained, "[God's] Word tells us that while on earth we saw in a mirror dimly, in heaven we would see face to face. That we used to know in part, but in heaven we would know fully...Then why is my understanding still so partial?"
"You see much more clearly, my master, because the obstacles that blurred your vision are now removed...But you do not see all there is to see... Did you not also read in [God's] Book His promise that in the coming ages He will continuously reveal to us the incomparable riches of His grace: How then could you expect to know everything there is to know? Or to know immediately everything you will one day know?...[God] is the Creator, we are the creatures, and always shall be...The Creator knows all, and all at once. The creature's knowledge is and always will be both partial and gradual. It will grow continuously throughout eternity. Every day we will understand better the greatness of our King...And while our knowldege will one day bue many times what it is now, even then we will be no closer to exhausting the riches of His person."
man..."For some reason I thought process and growth were part of the other world, and it would be different here--that everything we ever experience in heaven would be ours immediately."
"And then what?" angel asked.
"Well, then we'd just keep enjoying it forever, I suppose."
"Without the joy of discovery? With no meditation and study? No interaction with [God] or one's fellow creaures? No process of revelation and learning? No exploration...With no effort?"
"Well, yes, angel, I have to admit I did think that."
"I do not understand...cannot imagine anyone would want such a thing...To be granted the product of knowledge without this process would...circumvent the process of growth in grace and knowledge of our Lord...If we knew all...there could be no growth...If we understood all the mysteries of [God], our wonder would be focused on a knowledge that had a past but no future."
and i might add to the last sentence, our wonder would be focused on Someone that is less than everything there is. i can so see growth as part of heaven, after reading this. not wholly convinced b/c it goes against all i have ever understood but getting there. what do you think?
About Me
- natalie
- ok, who am i? i am a believer in Jesus Christ, a daughter, a sister, a sister-in-law, an aunt, a friend, a nurse. i hate wearing shoes, i would go barefoot most of the time if i could. i don't really have a set style, one day it's all about being girly, the next its' about comfort and i wear pajamas and houseshoes in public, and the next it may be jeans and a punk shirt, it's all about the mood. most days, i can honestly say that when i got up and got dressed, i didn't think about you but just about what i wanted to wear (as long as it fits within societal norms). the most important thing in my life is my walk with God. some days i'm better at it than others. the next most important thing in my life is family and friends. being an aunt has been so rewarding but no more so than being a sister and a daughter, a friend. my friends live all over the world (literally). by profession, i am a nurse currently serving as a ward nurse on the m/v africa mercy.
1 comment:
Hi Natalie,
(Thanks for the letter BTW)
Good posts for pondering. I'm not sure what I think but here goes...
In regards to the above I'm not sure I see the Ephesians passage the same way as the author. I think I read it that God's salvation plan will be a constant testimony to his incomparable grace. With reegard to the Corinthians passage I think from this bit: "where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears." that our resurrection in the new creation will be so different in so many ways to what we experience now - no illness, no decay, no marriage etc... that I think we cannot fathom what it will be like from this side. (I hope that's not a cop out and I don't think it is time wasted thinking about things like this - one of my favourite passages is on this theme(ish) from Philippians "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.").
I do know it will be very good!
Tommy.
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