Afterlife is not something to Worship

Revelations 21:3-5 "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new.'"


Here I open with an few verse from Revelations which talks about heaven and serves us good point to study revelations to know about the coming heaven, but even then knowing all the stuff in the bible will not serve a purpose unless we know the heart of it. There might be a reason why the bible usually refers to a Savior, and not to heaven. Without Christ the bible would be nothing but a waste of paper as Bob Kilpatrick said in service. The bible is not about getting to heaven, but knowing Christ.

I was riding in a car and we got to start talking about our views on religion, faith, and God. It was interesting to hear other peoples views so varied. I am aware of heaven being God's dwelling place, but the way people see heaven kind of worried me. It goes back I was probably the only Christian paying attention in the car, and I got to listen in on many things. Here are some sound bites of what I heard:

"What are your beliefs about God?"
"Well, I take an Agnostic view, there could possibly be a God, but can't really be proven."
"Oh I think there is not a God, I am atheist. When you die, you don't go anywhere, you just die"
"Don't you feel bad that you can't die and see your loved ones again?"
"Why do you have to believe in a God for there to be a heaven? I believe when we die their is a heaven waiting for us."
"All Christians do is good deeds to get to heaven, why can't they do Good to just do good?"

The whole time I was just trying to think of something witty to say to amaze them, to let them know God is not a heaven and is so much more than just an afterlife. Nothing came to mind, but now I wish I could of said this, "God is not meant to be a means to an end. God is our creator meant to bring meaning to our lives." An afterlife in heaven sounds swell but not the big picture. God gave us his only son so that we may build relationship with God again, and relationship with God is a transforming thing. We become a new creation, we learn to love properly, and do things out of love, not do good to attain heaven, or "pad our stats" like my friend said.

Hosea 13:14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?

Death in this life becomes something else, not a loss of consciousness, it becomes something fulfilling. We have the victory in Christ! We triumph over death! God is something more than just a person we need to know to get to heaven. God wants us to know him, and love him.

PostScript:
At this point I have to admit a fear that I petition with God a lot about death. Death is not suppose to scare a Christian, for I know the power that death holds because of our savior and the redemption that comes from it. This is a fear I think most have but do not want to admit, especially when even Christian peers might ask why I fear that. I try to not let it consume me, I usually keep my mind busy. You can give me your prayers that God will help give me the ease of mind and wisdom to not fear this anymore. I know that I should not, but knowing is sometimes not enough.