I went to the Vancouver Poverty Conference put on by World Vision today. We started the session with a passage reading from Isaiah 65:17-25. As you read, imagine that this is what God wants to restore, what he wants all his children to have...
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord— and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
We were asked, "What does heaven look like to you?" To be honest I haven't really thought much about what heaven would be like at all, but I can picture in my head what I may want bliss to look like.
The air is warm. The moon has showed her face in the sky, and so have a few stars. The setting sun splashes its golden rays on a lush green field full of crops. and the wind gently sways the wheat. By the field is a house with a white fence, and there is smoke coming out of the chimney. The smell of fresh meat and vegetables cooking on the stove drifts from the windows. Friends from near by make their way to the house, for there is a gathering going on...
Hmm... what would that life be like? What if we planted what we ate? And shared with our neighbours the fruits of our labour? I have a strong urge to return to nature, even though I have never really lived that life. Is that the way God calls us to be? To live in harmony with nature. To not build over it, but to embrace it? I wonder..
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord— and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
We were asked, "What does heaven look like to you?" To be honest I haven't really thought much about what heaven would be like at all, but I can picture in my head what I may want bliss to look like.
The air is warm. The moon has showed her face in the sky, and so have a few stars. The setting sun splashes its golden rays on a lush green field full of crops. and the wind gently sways the wheat. By the field is a house with a white fence, and there is smoke coming out of the chimney. The smell of fresh meat and vegetables cooking on the stove drifts from the windows. Friends from near by make their way to the house, for there is a gathering going on...
Hmm... what would that life be like? What if we planted what we ate? And shared with our neighbours the fruits of our labour? I have a strong urge to return to nature, even though I have never really lived that life. Is that the way God calls us to be? To live in harmony with nature. To not build over it, but to embrace it? I wonder..
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