Imagine a time, when you will never be unwelcome ANYWHERE, at ANYONE'S home... A time when it will never ever occur to anyone to be envious of anyone else.
Imagine being married to the King of Glory! Will our Husband deny us anything? No. Because we will not want anything He would not love to give us.
What insight into the nature and quality of Heaven have you?
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when you will never be unwelcome ANYWHERE,
at ANYONE'S home...
A time when it will never ever occur to anyone to be envious of anyone else.
C'mon, it's easy if you try.
Come by Jeff Street, where everyone is welcome and everybody knows your name...
(whoops, wrong utopic song)
God is not that far from any of us.
God will have no need to edit our memories. All He has to do is remove our sin nature once and for all. We will remember everything, but because His perspective will be our perspective, we will have the same sense of justice, righteousness, holiness, love, and joy as Him. There will be nothing to feel sorrow over. Nothing to feel pain, or remorse, or guilt over. We will be free of all that.
I can, however, see where you and others might think that it would be necessary for God to edit our memories. From a strictly human perspective it seems inconceivable that we would not feel sorrow over a loved one who did not make it to Heaven. But again, we will not view the past from a human perspective, but from a Godly perspective. We will view everything from the same lens of righteousness/holiness/justice as God. We will not feel any pain at the knowledge that loved ones did not make it. They will have had their chance and rejected Him, and we will view them as having been justly consigned to that other place. No reason to feel sorrow, or pain.
I know that sounds callous in the 'here and now,' but any honest look at what the Bible has to say about Heaven clearly shows that we will possess all of our current memories and intellect, PLUS much more. We will know who we are and remember all the trials that brought us to these eternal pavilions of splendor we will know not just as "Heaven"... but "Home."
We will eat, we will drink, we will even have meaningful work to enjoy. And there will never be anything there to make us cry, unless it is from pure joy. No sickness, no injury, no achy joints, or fatigue. Everywhere we go we will be welcomed and embraced as family; no one will ever talk behind our backs. The level of intimacy shared between us all will surpass that of any sexual experience, or any length of years in earthly marriage. We will never have to fear rejection again; for no one will ever judge us for what we did. That is REAL intimacy... freedom from fear and rejection; to be free to open our entire heart and soul to another... every nook, cranny, and crevice of our souls laid bare for all to see, knowing they will never feel anything but love for us.
Think about it... God never takes away anything that He doesn't replace with something altogether better. Sex? Who'll need it? Once there, who'll want it!? It would be like a choice, in the 'here and now,' between a eating a salt block OR a piece of strawberry shortcake... I can't imagine anyone who would rather eat a block of salt than strawberry shortcake. [Don't like strawberry shortcake? Just insert your favorite dessert into that formula, and viola!]
Who wouldn't want to go to such a place?
"Can two walk together, except they be agreed? " [Amos 3:3]
Only God is perfect. But He can make you a perfect Bent. Or Dan a perfect Dan. The distinction shouldn't be hard to, well, imagine.
For myself, I know I will never feel the need to draw attention to myself with a clever, albeit disgusting, turn of phrase. Yep, even Eric likes to be the center of attention at times. And at times I say things I oughtn't. But I don't believe God will "wonderfully edit" my brain. My perspective will change, not who I am... intrinsically. Our souls will receive immortal bodies free from corruption. Of any kind.
...
As it turns out I was wrong about something... There will be at least one "Mine" in Heaven. The Bible says He will give each of us a white stone upon which is written a new name (our new name) that only we and God shall know [Rev 2:12]. It will an individual gift that is ours for all eternity. And if there is THAT much in Heaven that we can call our own, there will be other things as well. Let's not forget that we will have homes, and crowns as well... they will be ours, and no one else's. That's not to say you will not be welcome at my place... you will be very welcome. Make sure you bring your guitar and swimming trunks.
Very profound, ER. You surprise me.
Let me ask you, though... What can one hope for in heaven if one does not inquire as to what heaven is said to hold?
Inquiring, wondering, pondering, meditating is fine! The fact that we can even seriously think about it in faith is the substance of things hoped for, of things not seen.