Is Heaven a Carnival?

Yesterday I took my boys to meet their cousin at a FREE carnival. You could say that my boys were in heaven. They bounced... quite literally... from ride to ride with unbounded excitement. I now understand what the phrase "jumping for joy" looks like. I'm certain it was coined by the father of a 4-year old at a carnival.

You know sometimes I think we tend to think of heaven as a bit of free carnival. It is a place where we hope that we can enjoy our favorite people, our favorite foods and our favorite entertainment.... forever. But that type of heaven is all about us.

And now... we are simply looking in on the FREE carnival... quite sad... just waiting for the whole eternity thing to get started.

But as I read Jesus I get an entirely different view of the good news (aka gospel) of the kingdom. One of longest collections of Jesus kingdom teachings is in Matthew 5-7.

When reading here you find Jesus describing how citizens of his kingdom should live... now. He talks about normal life (like: lust, retaliation, loving enemies, praying, judging others, and the golden rule) but life lived in a righteous way. It is almost as if he is describing a world or a society that is perfect and just and good. A redeemed world.

Jesus call to repentance is not a ticket to an eternal carnival but a call to live like we are citizens of the perfect world that will one day come. So we are not just waiting for redemption we are working out redemption. Heaven is not an otherworldly free carnival... it is a whole new world where everything is in order. A redeemed world.