The Key to Heavenly Peace

Last night I had a dream where I was attending something like a church service. Among the people in attendance were many people I have known from the churches I have attended in the past, including people I love, people I barely know, and even some people who have caused me pain. There were pastors, people of all ages and races, faithful saints and some who have at times caused division or left churches.

I thought about this strange dream for a bit this morning, and then I realized that God was showing me a partial picture of what heaven will be like.  Believers from all over, from many different backgrounds, will be together worshipping God. Some we may have experienced as kind and faithful, while others we may have seen at their worst. Then another thought hit me. This is why you can’t enter heaven if you do not forgive others. This is even more clear when you consider that some people who have hurt you will also be in heaven, since the pathway is opened not by perfect living but by faith and God’s grace. If you have been in the church as long as I have, you are bound to have been hurt by church people. The only way to enter a place of eternal peace and joy is to embrace both repentance and forgiveness. After all, you’ll have to get along forever, so it’s important to learn how to do so now, otherwise your exclusion will be what enables that peace.

Perhaps Stephen the martyr (Acts 7) was the first to greet Paul in heaven. Maybe children whose parents were stoned for believing in Jesus ran to him and gave him a hug. If that is hard for you to imagine, there is work to do in learning to forgive others. Keep in mind that in this life forgiveness doesn’t always mean restored relationships or proximity. Sometimes we need distance for our own well-being or safety, but we still have to do the hard work of releasing the wrongs committed against us. It is not for us to decide who gets into heaven and so we can’t choose to treat people poorly simple because we expect they will not be there.

In Matthew 18, Jesus tells a story of a man who was jailed for refusing to have mercy on one of his debtors after his own debt had been forgiven.  He says in verse 35, “this is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” For context, this parable immediately follows teaching about how to deal with sin between people in the church. That’s no accident. Forgiveness always matters, but Jesus knew that some of the deepest hurts come from those we expect to be righteous and treat us with love and kindness. If you’re a Christian and you’ve been hurt by people in the church, it’s time to forgive. If you know you’ve hurt someone, it’s time to repent.  You can’t afford not to, not if you want to be part of the greatest gathering that will ever take place.

If you are reading this as someone who has never considered or understood how to be a part of heaven and live in eternal peace, please reach out and I would be happy to answer any questions you have. You don’t get into heaven by the good things you do. It is only by placing your faith in Jesus, who graciously offers forgiveness that we can be experience this peace. He offers it freely with a word of instruction: freely you have received, so freely give. If you’re ready to begin a new kind of life, embracing the radical teachings of Jesus that lead to eternal peace and joy, I would be happy to help you begin that journey. Reach out and let’s talk!