Heavenly mansion

During my recent trip to the Philippines, we visited a mansion where we had a lunch. It was a really lovely place with a special atmosphere. It was warm weather that day, but not too hot, and the mansion was encircled by various topical plants. In the first room we entered, there was an old, wooden statue of Jesus extending His hand. The mansion consisted of several somewhat interconnected buildings, with small garden areas in-between and a bit secret places to discover. While others sat down on the table and started to consider what to order, I took time to go out and explore the place. Going farther away, I saw a nice tropical resting place. It was a bit out of reach, but lovely to behold. I took time to appreciate plants, especially the ones with flowers. There was one particular part of mansion which was decorated, but apparently not occupied yet. It was semi-open with view on tropical forest, and there were two white ceiling lamps and roof of ivies. It felt like a special, secret meeting place.

Later as I thought about the mansion more upon return, my imaginations were captured by something heavenly. In the realm of the Spirit, I found myself re-entering the same place as my heavenly home. In the first room, there were some things prepared by Jesus especially for me. In the vase, there are red and white wild snapdragon flowers, the kind that were growing near to my childhood place of living and which I often admired. Next to the mirror, in the jewelry box, there are rings which I collected as a young girl, but once lost them all at once. On the shelf, there are DVD’s from every church service during 2004-2005 where I participated, playing guitar and singing. Those were never recorded on earth, but as it turns out, kept well by the Heavenly Father. I can look back at any of those services and cherish the time spent worshipping Him. The souvenirs of earthy walk long lost and unattainable, tokens of love showed by God and people will be safely stored to enjoy in our heavenly home. God is the only One who has been there all the time, who has seen it all and knows things precious and dear to our hearts. What would be your special things you want to see, smell and experience again? In that place, all pain and disappointment is gone. All weariness and stress - no more.

Many years ago, heavenly feelings were also awakened in me when looking at a tropical holiday home picture on the side of the ocean. I cut the picture from the catalogue, put it in a frame and kept in bathroom for some time. Surely it will be more than we can imagine, and the presence of God Himself is the greatest benefit of heaven. However, I believe that at times the Holy Spirit captures our imagination to give us a little bit of taste how it will be. Referring to Max Lucado, “Care of Jesus touches you in deepest places, giving you comfort, assurance, and peace. The same Jesus has gone ahead, and is preparing a place for you. He is the architect of your heavenly home – it’s builder and interior decorator too. He knows your secret woes also knows your hearts desires. He knows your favorite color, your favorite flower, your favorite views. He knows what will delight you. He knows how to surprise you. He knows what you’ve always longed for. And in His infinite care, He prepares the perfect place for you.”

People of the Way

            

Pretty long time ago, which was for the occasion of my 20^th birthday, it was quite special that some friends from my university’s Christian student movement visited my hometown and stayed at my parents place. Their gift to me at a time was tea set that they have hand painted by themselves. The tea set was in purple, and on each cup and plate they have written a Bible verse with gold color, adding some illustrations. The one that spoke to me most at a time was with heart painted on it and these words: “The God who made the world and everything in it does not live in temples built by human hands, but in your heart” (based on Acts 17, 24). It was the time when a shift was starting to happen in my understanding and I realized that we ourselves are the living temple of God. I also had studied the Bible enough to start to see that some things in the traditional church do not match the original gospel message of the Bible.

A recent happening to experience that we are God’s temple was at our women’s group planning meeting just before Christmas break. There were only three of us there – me, our host, and a precious new sister who joined us some time ago. She has been a wonderful testimony, turning to God with sincere heart and seeking Him seriously as well as already serving Him with joy whenever opportunity presents itself. At this meeting, she shared some serious spiritual struggles she had been having. We prayed for her strongly in the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Our host also had the prompting that she felt was not from her, but from God. She believed we need to baptize this sister here and now and seal her deal with Jesus. I believe the authority for doing that also was coming from the fact that she has been in ministry for many years in different countries, and has received a call from God to make disciples wherever she goes. There was agreement among us that this is the right thing to do and it comes down to baptism right now. Preparations were made upstairs at the bathroom to baptize this sister in the bathtube. Our host did the baptism, as I was taking pictures and video. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” (2. Corinthians 5, 17), I said afterwards and read a longer explanation of that verse that I happened to have on my phone.

It was a bit unexpected turn of the events that day, but isn’t Christian life supposed to be exciting and full of adventures? We went for planning meeting and ended up baptizing someone. “I like this kind of planning meetings,” I later on told our host, “not just planning, but already doing something!” Isn’t it wonderful to flow freely in the Holy Spirit’s guidance as we fulfill our roles to be the living temple of God? The early Christians were doing just that, and they were not at a time called Christians yet or having cross as their symbol: their symbol was a fish and they called themselves “the people of The Way.” Some of that original dynamism of early church was lost some centuries later when church became institutionalized. But it is possible to go back to that and to live the gospel, to exercise our authority as believers, to break bread of Holy Supper at home, to baptize someone, and more. I like the episode in the “The Bible” TV series when the converted Saul speaks to the high priest Caiaphas: “Jesus has washed me clean. There is no need any more for sacrifices, no need for the temple, and no need for you.” Each believer is a priest for God: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1.Peter 2, 9)