Week 16~ Revelation
21:4
‘And God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things
are passed away.’
This is God’s promise for the future: for life in heaven.
Why then do we have to go through so much agony here on earth? Equally, why
does God put himself through the agony of watching us struggle day by day,
having made us in His image?
Everything comes back to understanding natural order and
balance. I am currently reading Ben Elton’s book, ‘Blind Faith.’ in which
society has experienced the second flood and people are supposedly living a God
centred life having totally lost the plot, re-interpreting and re-inventing the
values of life. A world in which there is no privacy or freedom of thought.
By
contrast, God knows that we need the opportunity to learn things ourselves and
has given us reasoning and freedom of thought. The different experiences we go
through in life are part of our growth curve, there to teach us by constantly
challenging and re-evaluating our thinking. Revelation 21:4 speaks about our
promised future, a future we can fully look forward to and appreciate based upon
our current experience of life.
How would be able to fully benefit from the joys of heaven
if we haven’t experienced the depths of pain? Without feeling pain we would not
be able to relate to God’s pain or anger. I think it is important to remember that
God helps us here on earth to handle our emotions and we should give thanks for
all of our experiences as they are an essential part of us so cannot be denied.
How empty we would be if we only experienced wonderful things- happiness, joy
and excitement, all of which need the balance of fear, anger hurt and pain to
be truly appreciated. Very often tragedy is the breeding ground for change and
ultimately joy.
God did not put us in the world to be miserable. We are supposed
to enjoy life and everything it has to offer, asking for the things we truly
desire. Bad things will happen but the
secret is to keep things in perspective and always focus on the positives. We
are responsible for ourselves and are free to choose the path we take and our
attitude to life, keeping the promise of a perfect future within our site- no
more fear and no more tears; no more pain to gain!!
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