so, why do we talk so little about heaven? it is treated almost as if it is awkward, even in christian circles. the new testament begs, littlerally begs us to look at heaven and see the splendor of what is to come. even in the old testament, isaiah 65, it tells us about heave

"Love means loving the unlovable - or it is no virtue at all." - Heretics, 1905

i love G.K.Chesterton. is anything that is seen as virtuous really virtuous when it is put under stress and vanishes? did the person posses the virture, or rather was there a selfish easy motive that kept the good thoughts and actions rolling?

simplicity.

Matthew 6:25-27
“ therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than good, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to their life?
The gospel, in fact, God himself, seems very simple. Thomas aquintas wrote volumes on his simple statement that, “ God is infinitely simple.” When I begin to look at simplicity more, it makes sense on why I think we’re called to lead simple lives. If your day is planned out, packed with everything, before you begin… what do people become? People become the nuisance, they become the thing that is keeping you from something else, people become burdens. This is the opposite of what Christ called us to love people and Christ was relational. He wandered around preaching and talking to people. The hardest thing is not giving money, it is building relationships, since that takes a part of us and stresses us. There is a need for schedules, but those moments where we schedule nothing, to me, it is like scheduling for people. It’s only by having free time that we have time for the hurting friend or a person in need.

Freedom is something extremely unique. With freedom, there is always a degree of power that we did not have before that we now posses. The idea of freedom is that it gives us the ability to do anything, but with the ability to do anything comes great responsibility. Anything that has the power to do good also has the equal power to do evil. A 2x4 I can use to build a house I can use to murder my neighbor. I have the freedom to have a 2x4 because I am not going to abuse that power. With any degree of freedom also comes the necessity of self governance. Without any self control, we become subject to a list of rules to try and curb our lack of ability to handle freedom.

We have freedom in Christ, but at the same time, Christ taught us what to do. I was asked the other day if that was really freedom, since there are a landfill of desires that people have that is seemingly being unfulfilled. The unique thing about Christ is that through Christ we are able to have a relationship with the creator or the world. The inventor of creativity, the inventor of our ability to fulfill desires. Sin is nothing more than a distortion of what already was. It is not the creator of anything new. To find anything new you need to know the creator of everything, the only author of creativity. Try imagine a concept that has not already been thought of? Everything we know is either a mix or a slight distortion of something we already know. New thought is not exactly humanities strongest trait. We are great recyclers and mish mashers though.

If creativity is found in God, if new thoughts and life is found in God, through Christ, then Christ giving instruction is not a hindrance, rather a way to explore something new- the author of creativity. More so, Christ did not give instruction, he gave news. News of forgiveness, grace, and redemption. While I have freedom, free from sin, free from myself, my desires also have dramatically changed since I became a Christian. What I truly desired, the root of all my desires, have changed. Self interest, my own desires are not really something pursue anymore. I try to be comfortable, I try to find enjoyment, but that is not my ultimate desire. Rather trying to bring glory to God, to enjoy God, and show people the grace, the freedom, the gift God gave me, is my desire. That takes many forms and changes the way you see enjoyment. Enjoyment is in everything, but is not everything. Enjoyment is found everywhere, but is not the ultimate thing you seek.

Enjoyment in everything, freedom from my haunting self, the changing of my desires to something not destructive, and being united with the author of creativity… now that is freedom in my mind.

more than anything,we are created by a relational God, we are made for relationships. our world revolves around them. knowledge is useless as just knowledge. how does this apply to our relationships and how we relate?