Thinking Out Loud, Volume CDXLI

We humans are strange creatures! Especially those of us who call ourselves Christians. We talk, and even complain, about all the troubles and heartaches we have to endure on a daily basis. Our neighbors mistreat us, our family members let us down, our bodies have something hurting most all of the time, and from time to time we have to endure the anguish and grief of losing someone we love. We get frustrated when it appears that wicked people seem to be the ones who are prospering. We live in such constant fear of our fellow man that we basically keep our homes and vehicles locked at all times. It's what we call "life." There's another part of this "life," however, that keeps us going. It's the hope of what we call the "afterlife." We refer to it as Heaven. It's a place where there's no such thing as trouble and heartache. It's a place where everyone loves everyone else, and every person there will treat us with dignity and respect. We'll never have to worry about losing a loved one, because death doesn't exist there. In fact, we say we have friends and family who are actually living there already. We'll always be happy and never experience sadness. "Life" there will be infinitely better than "life" here. So......if all I've said is true, why do we want to put off going to Heaven for as long as possible? Does going to Heaven have a downside? Do we prefer this life of trouble and heartache over that life of eternal bliss? I'm sure all of us would say we believe in Heaven, but could there still be just a smidgen of doubt in our minds about its existence? Or could it be that we believe, but we're just not completely confident that we'll be going there? And while we're on that topic, if we say we believe Heaven is a place where all who live a life pleasing to God will spend eternity, why do we sometimes take chances by committing acts that are not pleasing to God? Here's my theory: We were born as sinful creatures which gives us a natural tendency to commit sinful acts, and regardless of our good intentions, we're all going to mess up sometimes. (Thankfully, God understands that.) In addition to being born into sin, we're also born with a natural self-preservation mechanism that makes us want to hang on to this life for as long as possible. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that all of us want to go to Heaven, but none of us wants to go today. We humans are strange creatures! Preston