I want to run on greener pastures
I want to dance on higher hills
I want to drink from sweeter waters
In the misty morning chill
And my soul is getting restless
For the place where I belong
I can't wait to join the angels and sing my heaven song.
--Phil Wickham "Heaven Song"
As a Seventh-day Adventist Christian the belief in the soon coming of Jesus has been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I was really worried that Jesus might show up with His band of angels a little too soon. There was stuff I wanted to do, things I wanted to experience. I wanted to get married (because some said there would be no marriage in heaven, I wanted to make sure I got that in under the wire, and of course everything that goes along with marriage--well, not everything so much as one thing).
When I got a little older, I tended towards skepticism over the soon coming of Jesus. Our particular faith tradition has been preaching "soon" since 1844. At what point does "soon" lose any real meaning? For me, any definition of soon that extends longer than a typical lifespan is practically irrelevant. And to be honest when I read the Bible I don't see a strong message of "soon"--instead I see a message of "uncertainty" (more on that in minute).
And now in recent years, as the losses begin to hit home, I've begun to long for Jesus to return. When life is good here on earth, it's good, but heaven will still be better. And when life takes a dark turn, as it certainly will, heaven is what gives me hope.
Our beliefs, whatever they are, inform how we process loss. For me, my faith tradition relies heavily on hope. Hope of the resurrection. Hope that death is not the end. I hold on to that hope like a lifeline in times like these. These days I want Jesus to come ASAP. There's nothing left for me in life that I need to experience "first" and I'm a whole lot less okay with the idea that His return might not be soon.
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song?
--U2, "40"
So how long? How long will we run this gauntlet of pain and death. I don't know. I'm not willing to insist on "soon." Maybe I'm a heretic for saying so, but I just don't see a strong Biblical argument for it, nor do I see a theology of "soon-ness" having any practical spiritual value. To be clear I'm not insisting on the certainty of delay either. That's equally foolish, with perhaps even less Biblical support. I think the best case can be made for uncertainty. That one thing we know for sure is that we don't know for sure. So, Jesus counsels us, "Be ready all the time, because you don't know the day or the hour. And not only do you not know when, but I will show up when you least expect Me. So be ready."
And what does it mean to be ready? Perhaps you've heard the quote attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Some people are so heavenly minded they're no earthly good"? Is that what it means to be "ready?" To get your life "in order", maybe move out of the cities in anticipation of troubled times ahead? Does it mean trying to be extra spiritual? I tend to think an emphasis on "soon-ness" leads to that kind of mentality. But Jesus lays out in Matthew 25 exactly what it means to be ready for His return. In the story of the ten virgins, he makes it clear that being ready means being prepared for the possibility of delay. In the parable of the talents, He makes it clear that being ready means making the most of the talents God has given you, rather than living in fear of an exacting God. And in the parable of the sheep and the goats He defines readiness by how we treat the people around us, especially the ones the rest of the world neglects. In Jesus' vision of readiness, being heavenly-minded means doing a whole lot of earthly good.
When I was in high school I went through a period of depression. A turning point in that time in my life was a conversation I had with my best friend J. He made a point that wasn't exactly groundbreaking yet for some reason gave me a sense of perspective that helped me push through that low point in my life: "The only thing that matters," he said, "is to get to heaven." Strangely enough, it was that belief that heaven was all that mattered that got me feeling like life on this earth mattered too. I know of others too who have, at the darkest moments, found the strength to keep living on this earth because of their conviction that they wanted and needed to be in heaven. They had somewhere they had to be and somehow they knew that the key to getting there was to stay the course, to hold on.
Sometimes I'm not sure what I'm fighting for
But death ain't the only end in sight
'Cause this ain't a battle, it's a lifelong war
My banner, my home
My freedom, my song
Your hope is the anthem of my soul
--Switchfoot, "Hope is the Anthem"
I'm really preaching to the choir here. I know my friends who don't share my faith don't see much value in the hope of heaven, especially as a "motivation" to do good. But even they would agree, I think, that each of us seeking to live our lives well and to be agents of love and grace in the world is a good thing.
When I was in middle school my absolute favorite song in the world was "Heaven is Place on Earth" by Belinda Carlisle. They never played that song on the radio enough for me. When I listened to it, I knew exactly where that heaven was--in the arms of my 7th grade unrequited crush! I still have "Heaven is a Place on Earth" on my running playlist--I just heard it today, in fact. Of course Ms. Carlisle's optimism notwithstanding, heaven can never truly be a place on earth, not where death can swoop in unbidden at any moment and ruin the party. But I do think there's something to be said for living in the spirit of the Kingdom of Heaven right now. Heaven is the place where love reigns. Eternity would kind of suck under anything else but the purest love. So, if we would be ready, let us love one another.
How long until Jesus returns? I don't know the answer to this question. But I do know, that I've got somewhere to be. So I'm going to keep doing what I can, by His grace, to bring a little heaven to earth while we wait.
The world is made
A chance to change
But I feel the same
And I wonder why
Would I wait till I die
To come alive?
I'm ready now
I'm not waiting for the afterlife
You and I we begin forever now
Forever now, forever
--Switchfoot, "The Afterlife"
No comments:
Post a Comment