A Theological Fantasy - Continued
"But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves."
- Luke 22:26 -
In the old, dark age of the world —
in other words, where you are now — "work" had a really bad reputation. Many considered "work" a dirty word.
Here in the New Heavens and New Earth, work is now an unmitigated delight.
Here's why.
CLICK HERE for the first installment of this series.
After our first parents fell,
Part of that curse was the coupling of work and survival.
Work Harder...
Image courtesy of Jordan Whitfield and http://unsplash.com
Think about it.
We started out naked in a lush, temperate garden, surrounded by all the food we would ever need, free for the taking.
When we screwed up, we were tossed out of paradise on our (r)ear. We found ourselves alternately freezing our buns off, sweating it out to produce every little thing we needed, and ultimately dying.
Hard at work...
Image courtesy of frank mckenna and http://unsplash.com
In the bad old days,
I desperately wanted to work on meaningful things. I wanted to design and create new things. I longed to innovate and bless humanity.
What happened instead?
All too often, I had to work on things that were hot, smelly, difficult, annoying, and menial. I had to scramble to make ends meet. Much of what I had to do was mind-numbingly boring. I'm ashamed to say there were even times I bent a principle or two in order to put food on the family table.
Not any more!
Hard at work...
Image courtesy of Igor Ovsyannykov and http://unsplash.com
Nowadays, all our needs are met.
The curse has been lifted. We no longer have to work in order to survive. We no longer have to sweat just to eat.
We work for the sheer joy of it. Work is now the complete blessing that it was originally meant to be. It's always a genuine pleasure.
Hard at work...
Image courtesy of Franz and http://pixabay.com
Heaven is a gift economy.
In God's New Universal Order, the ability to serve, please, delight, encourage, and help others is the greatest joy imaginable.
Here, people actually read what we've written. Brothers and sisters use what we design. We enjoy the hell out of everything that we do for one another. We are quite literally one big, happy family.
I don't have to work to "have more." I'm already a joint owner of the universe.
When I make something, my reward is the thrill I get when I give it away. The look on a friend's face when she accepts my gift is all the payment I need. That, and seeing her value, enjoy, and use what I've made.
I once made my friend Teller a hand-carved chess set. About once a year, I'd send him another piece or two. When I finished the last king, I delivered it in person so we could play a game. (Don't ask... OK, ok, he beat me just like he usually does!)
Haven't you ever enjoyed working?
You know, making or doing something you're good at and enjoy? Something intense that "put you in the zone?" I've found that art is like that. When I carve wood, or write, or draw, time passes in a different sort of flow.
But not all work is solitary.
Collaboration is a real kick.
Some of my greatest thrills started out almost by accident. Picture this scenario:
Ron and I are sharing a craft beer, shooting the breeze. We discover that we've both always shared a love of fireworks. We laugh and talk about Gandalf and his pyrotechnic exploits.
Gandalf's Fireworks - YouTube
Pretty soon,
we're scheming ways to create the greatest fireworks company ever.
Fireworks, the likes of which you've never seen...
Image courtesy of Thomas-Suisse and http://pixabay.com
We remember an old friend who was pretty good chemist. We tell her about the project — she's in.
Another former colleague used to be a rocket scientist — he's in.
And so on. Pretty soon, we've half a dozen enthusiasts involved, and we're dreaming up the grandest fireworks show ever.
Sound like fun?
Damn straight it is!
We have the time of our lives for a couple of decades, designing pyrotechnic effects never before seen or imagined. We set up a production line and assemble enough blam and bang for a three-hour show.
When we're finally ready, we send out our invitations to all the "A-List." These are people we know will share our excitement.
Opening night arrives.
J.R.R. Tolkien is seated next to C.S. Lewis in the filled-to-capacity amphitheater we built. Jesus himself honors us with his presence. Grandpa Ralph is there.
By unanimous acclaim, the show is a spectacular success. I hear that we've inspired another team to take up the fireworks gauntlet. They will no doubt out-do us.
We pass along everything we've developed so far, including the amphitheater and our production facilities. And that's just one of my "careers" so far, and a relatively short one at that. A couple folk from our company are staying on with the new team; Ron and I are moving on to other exciting tasks.
In one such upcoming project,
I hope to assemble a group to design and build a replica of the Starship U.S.S. Enterprise. We pulled the top-level blueprints from archives in the Library of Heaven. The prints are incomplete, but part of the fun will be making things up as we go along.
That project's going to take considerably longer than the fireworks; maybe fifty to a hundred years or so? We will then of course set out on a series of five-year missions of exploration.
Longer range plans include designing the ultimate roller coaster park, exploring the lava caves on Mars, and engineering an entire, dedicated surf planet.
Did I mention mining the asteroids?
I expect to have enjoyable work to pursue, and an unimaginably vast universe to explore, all of my endless days.
Work is now everything we always wanted it to be,
with no drawbacks, misgivings, or negatives. God himself works! Therefore, for man, work is an integral part of being made in the image of God.
At long last, our work fulfills us.
Johnny Cash, "Sixteen Tons"
But what about personal relationships?
Interaction with others has always been a really mixed bag, filled with both love and pain. If your experience has been at all like mine, the closer we get, the more difficult relationships seem to become.
During Earth's history, God put some pretty strict restrictions on physical intimacy. Some people used to wonder what interpersonal relationships would be like in heaven.
You are about to find out...
Physical Intimacy?
Image courtesy of StockSnap and http://pixabay.com
Next time.
"No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him."
- Revelation 22:3 -
=FIN=
