Earth Is Not Heaven...

SO much bad news these days…

So much trouble we see

If this was all there was, then hope

Would be a mockery 

 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. 

In this world you will have trouble. 

But take heart! I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

Logic cannot ration Reason

It cannot explain Unseen

Earth is not a slice of heaven

But the steppingstone between

All the love we have been given

Is not immune to life’s care

Earth will never be like heaven

Just the means to getting there

This brief blip of hurt and hunger

With happiness tucked betwixt

Where nobody can grow younger

Should make us make sure of this…

With time’s what-why-how and wherefore

That its days and years allow

We should never, ever ignore

Who we should acknowledge now!

Here we beg, barter and bluster

Beneath Mercy’s loyalties

But the best that we can muster

Is a trove of memories

…where gross under-estimation

Makes us think God isn’t fair

As if somehow earth was heaven

Not its sorrow-stricken stair

© Janet Martin

 However, as it is written:

 "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, 

and what no human mind has conceived" -- 

the things God has prepared for those who love him--

1 Cor.2:9

I’ve heard this quote stated in a few ways…

For a believer this life is as bad as it gets

For an unbeliever this life is as good as it gets

Or,

For an unbeliever earth is as close to heaven as they will get

For a believer earth is as close to hell as they will get