Chapter 15 in Scot McKnight's book 'The Heaven Promise' is entitled "How Should Heaven People Live Today? The Challenge to Be Heaven People on Earth."
Many believe we should live more for our future with God in Heaven and not worry so much about the here and now. There are likely just as many who believe the opposite - that if we are too heavenly minded we will be no earthly good. Scot suggests it is not an either/or, but requires a balance of the two.
Today I will simply list how Scot says we should live today as Heaven people:
HEAVEN PEOPLE TRUST
HEAVEN PEOPLE IMAGINE
- imagine a world worshiping God
- orient themselves toward a life shaped by life, death, and resurrection
- live in the power of the unleashed Spirit
- imagine a world shaped by a calendar focused on Jesus
HEAVEN PEOPLE PLANT AND BUILD
HEAVEN PEOPLE MAKE THINGS RIGHT
HEAVEN PEOPLE FELLOWSHIP WITH OTHERS INTO GOD'S BELOVED COMMUNITY
HEAVEN PEOPLE FORGIVE
HEAVEN PEOPLE MELT SNOW ("the snow of evil and systemic injustice and nonreconciliation will melt under the illuminating grace of the Lamb on the Throne")
At the end of the chapter, which is also the end of this section, he gives this review of the "big ideas":
First, God gave us our imaginations, but the surest place for understanding Heaven is not our imaginations or stories of afterlife experiences, but the Bible itself.
Second, Heaven is God's promise to us, and it is as good as God is sure. We are to trust our good God if we want to inherit the Heaven Promise.
Third, the heart of the Heaven Promise is that God raised Jesus from the dead, and the resurrected One had a real body fit for the new Heavens and the new earth. Our hope is for the resurrection and that kind of eternal, glorified, and transformed body.
Fourth, there are two heavens in the Bible: the present heaven, which is where God is. This heaven is just beyond our gaze. Then there is the final Heaven, or the new Heaven and the new earth.
Fifth, the final Heaven has these themes: God will be All in All, Jesus will be Jesus in the middle of it all, everyone will love God and love others eternally, Heaven will be a utopia of pleasures, Heaven will be eternal life, and Heaven will be an eternal beloved community.
The final section of the book covers 10 common questions about heaven - which I will venture into now as time permits.
