October 1, 2001

CYBERCOLUMN:
Oh, heavenly days
___By Donna Van Cleve
___The preacher said, "If you don’t like church, then you’re probably not going to like heaven very much, because that’s what it’s going to be like--one eternal church service."
___Oh dear. As a young girl, I sat there wide-eyed and worried after that remark, recalling numerous eternally long church services where I had to fight to stay awake, or was more interested in writing notes to my sister or friends, or daydreamed the service away. I felt a lot of guilt and apprehension when I silently decided heaven wasn’t going to be all that enjoyable of a place. I hoped God would give me a lonnnggg life here o

DONNA VAN CLEVE

n Earth before I had to go.
___I always had heard heaven had streets paved with gold, with precious jewels everywhere. When I was older, I began to feel even more guilty thinking I wouldn’t be that comfortable amidst all that priceless architecture. I had never been big on expensive jewelry or diamonds, so living eternally in a jewelry box didn’t seem so exciting to me either. Big, old shade trees growing alongside a clear-running stream, green grass and beautiful flowers seemed pretty heavenly to me. God created those wonderful things too, and it was easier for me to picture Jesus there rather than in a gilded tabernacle.
___ It wasn’t until I was an adult that I heard a different point of view on those streets paved with gold.
___"Common paving material--that’s the value of gold in heaven," my pastor, Don Doyle, said in a sermon this past year.
___My ears perked up. I had never thought of heaven that way. In fact, I think I’ve been looking at it backward all along. The things man considers most valuable--gold and precious jewels, are commonly used as paving and building materials in heaven. Maybe that’s because those things are not what we are supposed to value most in heaven. Will we even notice the interior decor when we are in the presence of God?
___ And what in heaven do you think God will value most? Those 12 gates, each made with a single pearl? The 12 foundations of precious stones? No. Based on the incomparable sacrifice God made for us through his Son, his greatest treasure in heaven will be us--everyone whose name is found in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
___ In our churches today, do we have that same sense of value toward others, or is our focus on the building material and interior decorating? Have our churches become gilded cages in which to house our Lord, to visit once or twice a week, three times if we’re faithful? When visiting hours are over, how many of us are content to leave him there while we take charge the rest of the week? Or will we finally learn the treasure is carried within these clay pots to our homes and jobs, on vacations and at the stores.
___In our communities today, do we have that same sense of value toward others? Or is our focus on people’s exteriors and lifestyles, which may distract us from their worth in God’s eyes. Heaven was intended for them too, so it is up to us to get that treasure out of the church and onto the streets in order to give them the opportunity to know and accept Christ.
___I have stopped trying to imagine what heaven will be like. I am sure my feeble imagination never could do it justice. And I’m fairly certain it will not be like most of the church services I have attended throughout my life, although there have been in some great ones. I love going to church now because my focus has shifted more from self to God, but I am still quite nearsighted. I know heaven will be far more glorious and wonderful with perfect vision seeing him face to face.
___I’m sure the décor in heaven will take my breath away, but what I am really looking forward to see, besides my precious Lord, are those faces, known and unknown, of the ones for whom I have prayed and pointed to Jesus.

___Donna Van Cleve is director of the public library in Cotulla, a writer, wife, mother and member of First Baptist Church in Cotulla, where she is pianist.



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