When We Get to Heaven.....

It is very tempting during arguments and disagreements among Christians to think to yourself, well, when we all get to Heaven they will know how wrong they were and see how right I was! We may even add - "Then they'll be sorry!"

Have you ever taken a torch out into the sunshine and seen how its light all but vanishes? We are told to so let our light shine in the darkness of this world, but when we enter into Heaven and the glorious Light of Jesus our light will be as nothing - or as the scripture says - our righteousness will be as filthy rags.

Our arguments may have a lot of truth in them but no matter how much more right we are than our disputers we are still in darkness as regards complete truth. Jesus warns us against judging others lest we ourselves be judged and He says we are often so busy looking at others faults that we fail to see our own massive fault that hits every one else in the eye!

The main reason we hold onto grievances is because they make us feel superior; someone did something to us that was undeserved, it was unjust and we deserve better treatment. By holding on to these painful memories we have an example to prove that we have been hard done by and maybe we should have something better. We feel justified in giving ourselves some indulgence. Each grievance is like a treasure that we keep in a box and we take them out every now and then and examine them; indulge in a little self pity - a tear or two maybe. If we have new life in Jesus this is an act of desecration to His work in us. It is like smearing mud over ourselves; reopening wounds, keeping hurt alive.

At the moment we are living in a dirty muddy pond. That pond is slimy and its contents fill our mind as well as cover our clothes. When Jesus comes into our lives we realise that there is a better place and we start to emerge from the pond. Very often we fall back in and we are always conscious of the "pondlife" around us. We are affected and very often infected by it. When, one day, we leave this pond are we really likely to want to be thinking and going over our time spent there? Does the butterfly yearn to return to the muddy cabbage patch? When we get out of our sick bed do we long to be ill again? As spring emerges after a long cold, damp winter do we look back and wish its speedy return?

The world we know now has as much in common with the next as a summer landscape has with a winter one and is as different as day is from night.