15. My transformation is not what gets me into heaven, but it does prepare me to enjoy heaven.
(Before looking at the questions below, take a few minutes to think about this statement. Invite Jesus to speak to you about what He would like you to notice.)
If your life were to end today, would you feel that you were ready to spend eternity with God?
Do you believe that there are certain conditions you must meet before God will “let you in” to heaven when you die? What are the conditions?
What parts of you, especially what characteristics of your personality, do you believe you will keep when you die?
When you meet Jesus face to face, do you feel like you will be meeting an old friend, a total stranger, or something in between? Describe what you think it will be like. What would you like it to be?
What is it about heaven that you most look forward to? How much of what you look forward to could you also experience now in your life on earth?
Our transformation--the journey of repairing and healing our broken and fallen souls--helps make it possible for us to enjoy our journey with God, but it is not a requirement. God will participate with us on the journey whether we are transformed or not. As we more intentionally focus our attention on our transformation, we might start to think that God will not accept us without this transformation.
As we begin to care more about our thought life and behavior, we are also more likely to notice when we fail, which can lead to feelings of guilt and disappointment. What’s worse, we may transfer this feeling onto God and imagine that He, too, is disappointed in us and may turn from us. This is a needless worry. Just wanting and asking God to participate in our lives is enough for Him to join us.
Our desire and effort to cooperate with the Spirit in the transformation of our souls brings delight to God. However, it is not a condition He places on our relationship. The outcomes of this journey of transformation—both successes and failures--serve only to enhance our enjoyment of our life with God. This life with God is “heaven.”
Jesus taught that the Kingdom of Heaven includes both a heaven-on-earth with God, and a heaven-after-we-die with God. Our entry into both the Kingdom of Heaven that we participate in here on earth and the one which we will enter at our death is available by simply desiring it and asking for it from God.
The transformation we experience certainly makes it possible to enjoy the heaven here and now, but we can only wonder if it will also shape the way we experience our future heavenly home.
What if our potential for transformation would stop when we die? Would that change how we looked at our life on earth?