Glimpses of Heaven While Fighting on Earth

Last week I mentioned seeming contradictions, in the glimpses of heaven we find when we humble ourselves and then feel God’s peace. The discrepancy comes when we experience turmoil rather than peace, yet we are not sinning.  We see this in sinless Jesus who fought evil, and grieved over sin.  His most intense time of stress was clearly in the Garden of Gethsemane, (Matt.26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46, and John 18:1-11.)  Innocent Jesus faced taking on the horror of humanity’s vile sins and the wrath of God against these sins (and then the Father’s separation from Jesus.)  Each times Jesus was not sinning, yet he experienced strife not peace.  And in all of these circumstances, Jesus was humbling himself (Phils.2:10, “When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on the cross.”) Yet even as Jesus humbled himself, without earthly peace, he still had glimpses of heaven, (Hebs.12: 2b-3, “Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”)

Sometimes humility will not feel peaceful, yet it will still give us glimpses of heaven.  This is the other side of humility that I wrote about last week in my post, “Childlike Bliss in Humility.” While Adam and Eve enjoyed pain-free humility in the Garden of Eden, we can have peace, even in the midst of pain, and that peace can remind us of heaven.  This is the parallel. There was perfect peace in Adam and Eve’s humility in Eden, as there will be in heaven for us. And before we get to heaven, God will give us glimpses of heaven, whether we suffer in our humility or are enjoying peace and calm as we surrender to the Lord.  Today I want to reflect on the harder sides of this humility, when we have to fight the Spiritual battles on earth.

First we must fight our sin nature, because if we lack self control, we will cause most of our strife. We may blame others for fights and disrespect, but if we lack self control, we will cause most of those clashes.  But when we have matured and learned to control our lustful, angry, selfish, whiny, fearful side (and you can add any other vice you know), we may still experience strife when we have done nothing to cause it, as others hurt us.  At those times, when we are not at fault (or mostly innocent, since we might have a blind spot) we still need to deal with the difficult nature of other people, whether they are weak, rude or immature Christians or ungodly people who are not believers at all.

I mentioned a godly side of our nature that recoils when others malign or attack us.  When we recoil, we are not sinning, even when our attackers insist that disagreeing with them means we are not being humble. God never wants us to agree with people who scorn us, speaking lies about us.  We must align our minds with God’s view of us, and this is a highly esteemed view!  We delight God (Psalm 147:11 “The Lord’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love,” and Proverbs 3:12 “For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.”)  Even when we humble ourselves, God honors us (Psalm 149:4-5 “For the Lord delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.  Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them. Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.”)  I could share so many other verses showing how much God values us, such as Isaiah  43:4b, “…you are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you.”

People who claim to be Christians (fake believers) and legalistic Christians (perhaps they are not truly surrendered Christians either) hate to see gals rejoicing in their freedom in Christ. They will insist they are right as they malign us.  Perhaps they will say we laugh too readily. They might say we dress too festively (in bright colors, never immodestly.) They may say our dreams are too bold, too hopeful.  They may say that we should “humble” ourselves and want what they not, and not have our own dreams.  But who gives us our dreams? When our hearts are surrendered to the Lord, our dreams please him.  I was scorned for many things I prayed for and made the mistake of sharing with some legalistic and bitter people. But I can laugh today, because I have received those blessings. I am not wealthy at all. But my life is rich in relationships. My mind is peaceful.  I am content with my status in life, yet I do strive for more, as I pray and seek God’s will. But many critics have insisted I was too joyful, shameless (I used to swim in the ocean—often in a wet suit, but some said this was a shameless thing to enjoy.)

I have had many critics, but didn’t Jesus have them too? They called him a glutton and drunkard, (Matt. 11:9, Luke 7:34.)  His enemies said he was a friend of sinners in those passages too.  Jesus was so attractive to humble people, the Pharisees complained that he was eating with “scum” (Matt. 9:10-11, NLT.)  Yet Jesus was doing God’s will.  And Jesus lived passionately. But our critics will not be pleased when we find joy in this life, nor when we call sin wrong (such as speaking out about sexual sins that our society praises.)  Our critics want us to feel ashamed for what we say, do, think, and even just for being who we are.  The godly side of our nature must recoil at these criticisms.  God is delighted with us. He chose us to be as we are. He guides us in the life’s path we take (Psalm 32:8 “The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”) Of course we can accept godly counsel about how we live our lives (Proverbs 11:14, 12:15, 15:22, 19:20, 24:6.)  But we can also go directly to God and receive his counsel.  And when we are sure of God’s direction, we can stand firmly, disagreeing with those who criticize or even malign us.

At those times, when we disagree with those who malign us, we may not have peace in those relationships. But we are not sinning either. Yet as we disagree with those who malign us, we can think of what God says about us, and despite the lack of peace in those human relationships, we can still have glimpses of heaven, due to God’s goodness.

Sadly, we do battle in this life. We cannot have peace with all people at all times, even when we are sincerely walking with the Lord.  But we can have peace with God. First we must ask God if we have caused any of the conflict, (Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” And Matt.5:23-24, “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go, first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”) Once we have examined our own lives, and have truly repented of our part and surrendered this matter to the Lord, then that lack of peace with others comes from their undisciplined Christian life, or even their lack of any Christian faith.  I want to write so much more, but I must close for now. If you would like to hear more about this subject, let me know. May the Lord bless you this week. Thanks for joining us in this post!