And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 1 Corinthians 15:49

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Living In A Mansion?

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:2

When ever a big lottery win is announced, whether people buy a ticket or not, everyone always imagines how they would spend the money if they won. Most people would quit their job. Some people would plan on how much they would give away and to whom. Most plan to buy the house of their dreams, and travel, and live a life of ease in luxury; and why not; it doesn't cost to dream. But notice that the dream of winning the lottery is so that we can spend it on tangible things, because we are a tangible thing gathering society! This is not a judgement, just an observation. I would buy things too! (An airplane!)

Consider what a native in an uncivilized village would do with a big lottery jackpot winnings. I think it would not hold much value to them because their existence is not based on an accumulation of materialistic things. Since we are a modern civilized consumer society, money holds great value for an exchange of goods and services, and success is often measured by an accumulation of materialistic items. That is just the way it is.

One of the drawbacks to that; and the main point now; is that, for the Christian, all of this focus on  materialism comes with a conflict in priorities and values, and it "colors" the way we interpret Scripture, and the way we live our lives.

One day a couple of weeks ago the Spirit of the Lord placed a thought in my mind I had never considered before. "What kind of furniture would be in the bedroom of the mansion that most Christians believe they would receive in heaven?" Wow! For that matter, what kind of kitchen would we need unless we still had to eat? What about the living room? Do we need a sofa, and lazyboy, a coffee table, and TV? How many bathrooms should there be?

I got to thinking of how often Christians sing "I've got a mansion just over the hill top in that bright land where we'll never grow old.... walk on streets of purest gold". Everyone is all excited about winning the spiritual lottery, and living in a mansion in heaven, and walking on streets of gold, not realizing that such a description is a metaphor for a spiritual life.

I have read books, and heard stories of many people who would tell of how they died and went to heaven, that would describe the mansion that they were going to have, and the opulent lifestyle they would live in heaven. It seems to attract the selfish materialistic desires of church people who are more interested in bringing earth to heaven rather than bringing heaven to earth!

The fact is that God is Spirit! Heaven is a Spiritual realm! These descriptions are symbolic. Gold is a symbol of Divinity, and streets of gold is talking about your divine walk, or lifestyle. A mansion (better translated "dwelling place") is not a brick and mortar building but a spiritual dwelling place in God.

Think about it for a second, do you believe for one minute that God is confined to and lives in a physical house in heaven?  Well, read the verse. "In my Father's house.." In my Father's what? House! Well, if the verse is not talking about a literal house for God, why would the "mansion" be literal?

"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27)

Consider what God said in Isaiah: Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; what is the house which you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the LORD....." (Isaiah 66:1)

"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16)

If you think that the bible needs to be taken literally, then are we to assume that some will be made into a pillar with graffiti on it?

"He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name." (Revelation 3:12)

I guess one might say that all of this talk about mansions over the hilltop is pretty harmless, but it really is not harmless to the Christian who wants to mature in the things of the Lord! No different than someone older than a small child should believe in Santa or the Easter bunny! All of this focus on material riches and wealth, and prosperity leads to greed and selfishness, and spiritual impotence!

Look what Paul says: "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content."  I Tim. 6:8. Food and clothing should be enough to make you content; not riches, or mansions, or even a house to live in or a bed to sleep on!

Does all this mean that it is somehow wrong to win a lottery or to have lots of money and have a big house and fancy car? Absolutely not, as long as these things don't possess you! And here is the test. I will call it the Job Test!  Can you lose everything you own, and start from scratch and not curse God?

Perhaps that is the defining factor for a deep spiritual life here on earth? To fully know what Jesus meant when He said: "And he said unto them, Take heed , and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" Luke 12:15.  Can we say that?

I like this quote from Kipling's poem "IF" If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss;...Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!


Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that the heavenly realm of existence is not beautiful, on the contrary, consider what Paul says in I Cor. 2:9 "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." However, don't stop reading there, or you will miss what he says in the next verse! "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."

You see, I think we set our sights way to low if we take that which is gloriously spectacular in the spiritual sense, and reduce it to the tangible earthly interpretation of confining our existence in heaven to the natural carnal understanding equal to the lottery winning ability of  Living In A Mansion.



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