Pleasures in Paradise (#151 of 365+)

God made the Garden of Eden a paradise. He provided Adam and Eve with every possible pleasure. They enjoyed perfect fellowship with him and with each other. He gave them a purpose by making
them responsible as caretakers of the garden. His creation appealed to and gratified all their senses. But then one day the serpent whispered a lie into Eve’s ear that sparked her imagination. She started believing God had somehow robbed her of fulfillment. She thought he was intentionally keeping her from something even better. She decided to take her happiness into her own hands (Genesis 3). Wow. History really does repeat itself, doesn’t it?

Some days it’s as if the World, the Flesh, and the Devil converge on me all at once like old friends holding an emergency intervention. Concerned with this relationship with God they say things like, “He’s ruining your life”, “He won’t stop until he has taken everything”, and “You can’t love others until you love yourself first”. All that self-help talk contains subtle undertones of an age-old serpent song: “God is keeping you from something better”… “Gratify yourself”… “Find fulfillment in _______”.  (Fill in the blank with anything that’s not God).

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

Dr. Peter Kreeft, a Christian and professor of philosophy, said “the world beyond the world” is what makes “all the difference in the world to this world”. In other words, fulfillment in this life has nothing to do with what I don’t have in this life but it has everything to do with what I do have in Heaven. Dr. Kreeft said believers during dark medieval times found meaning in their lives by thinking of earth as “Heaven's womb, Heaven's nursery, Heaven's dress rehearsal”. The focus was on Heaven, a place with treasure so great the empty pleasures of this life couldn't hold a candle to it: Heaven will be like Eden in that we’ll be immersed in every good pleasure, enjoyment, gratification, and delight. But it will be even better! We’ll enjoy eternal fellowship with the triune God. We’ll experience such pure intimate relationships with each other there will be no need for marital unions. Even the streets, the dirtiest thing in any earthly city, will shimmer like gold! Because of Jesus’ scars we’ll be completely healed of ours. There will be no more pain, sorrow, sin, or death. We’ll be free of anything that would threaten our eternal pleasure. Heaven will be all that, and even more.

While mourning his daughter’s death Steven Curtis Chapman wrote the following lyrics about what enabled him to get up every morning—the hope of paradise: “In my mind’s eye I can see a place/Where Your glory fills every empty space/All the cancer is gone/Every mouth is fed/And there’s no one left in the orphan’s bed/Every lonely heart finds their one true love/And there’s no more goodbye/And no more not enough/And there’s no more enemy, no more… Heaven is the place where she takes my hand/And leads me to You/And we both run into Your arms”…

“Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back” (Philippians 3:13-14 MSG)

Lord, thank you for lifting up my eyes towards Heaven today. Amen.