And we know that in all things God works …
(Romans 8:28)
Heaven and Hell both have a long reach.
Their pull on the human heart stretches back to birth and uses each event to prepare the person for his or her future destination. We always are becoming who we will be. Heaven bound people use difficult events to cultivate eternal longing. Hell-bound people allow difficult events to indulge their mistrust in God which hardens the heart. That means a heaven-bound person and a hell-bound person can experience the same event while interpreting that event in two diametrically different ways.
The concept of the future pulling on the past can be seen in all of life. Take Michael Jordan, his future greatness stirred in his soul early — in his defeat, he found his key to success:
“In 1978, Michael Jordan was just another kid in the gym, along with 50 or so of his classmates, trying out for the Emsley A. Laney High School varsity basketball team. There were 15 roster spots. Jordan—then a 15-year-old sophomore who was only 5’10” and could not yet dunk a basketball—did not get one. He went home, locked himself in his room and cried…Then he picked himself up and turned the cut into motivation. “
Adolph Hitler used his early poverty and personal loneliness to fuel his future hatred for most of mankind. Elementary teachers would say that even at the age of ten they could see “The Fuhrer” burning and scheming in his eyes. Twenty years before he even dreamed of wearing the swastika on the brown lapel of his jacket, he was stubbornly determined to rule over others. In the same way, heaven and hell start young.
Is this an issue of election? I am sure it is. But it is an existential reality as well. In the present moment of our mind, we only know choice. We can choose to see events either leading us upward toward heaven or hardening us for a long descent into hell.
The heavenly heart is described as “contrite”, sweetly broken, quick to repent. The hellbound heart is “proud”, hard as stone, stubborn, unbendable. Heaven will never feel like home for the proud man. Isaiah says, “Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD.” Now that is stubborn!
Are you practicing repentance? Or do you let each slight, insult, and criticism reinforce your resolve to fight back? Are you willing to let the word of the critic land softly on your heart like a seed falling on plowed soil? Or is your heart “sun-baked” and dry, not giving an inch, fist clenched, face pinched, brow furrowed?
Hell begins now. You can see the fire of anger burn in the eyes of the stubborn. At the same time, Heaven quietly calls to those who are kind, willing to wait their place in line, giving glory to others, walking in humility leaving behind a sweet fragrance as you exit the presence of another.
In Luke 16:19-32, the rich man, who feasted sumptuously while alive on earth, landed in hell. His hardened heart blinded him to the broken man begging at his gate. Torment and anguish was his lot from the start. Did he repent, did he wake up in the flames and see that his misery was self-inflicted? Not in the least…he still demanded and expected to be served, “Tell Lazarus to cool my tongue…send Lazarus to warn my brothers…do what I say.” No humility, no repentance, no eternal peace.
Hell and heaven begin now: As you are, so you will be. Forever!
In the book “The Great Divorce,” C. S. Lewis metaphorically describes the choice of both future dwelling places; its described as a bus ride to heaven leaving from hell. There is a point in the book where the characters step off the bus and get a taste of heaven. As they explore the new land the bus driver says to the people considering which realm they will choose, “You need never go back unless you want to…in fact, stay here in heaven as long as you please.”
Stay as long as you please. Heaven can be your choice now. Do you want to live in the peace, joy and ease of the new world, or do you like the taste of bitterness and anger? Some people can’t get enough of hatred – – they feed off of it. But for those who choose, “thy will to be done on earth as it is in heaven,” they really can begin now. They learn to forgive, keep no records of wrong, and wait with great anticipation for God’s Spirit to provide what they need.
I love how Psalm 45:10-11 puts the heavenly invitation, “Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention: Forget your people and your father’s house. The King is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your Lord.” Heaven embraces God’s embrace. Hell shuns it.
Listen to one more quote from “The Great Divorce”, “Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory, And of some sinful pleasure they say ‘Let me have but this and I’ll take the consequences’: little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man’s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man’s past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness.”
It’s your choice!
