Be Thou My Vision

Have you ever noticed that people "look" different when you love them?
Like friends and family, especially spouses and children.  You look at them, and sometimes it's almost as if you don't even see them.  Like you don't really notice what their skin, hair, etc. look like.  It's almost as if you see the person - who they are - and not really their body.

This can be true even for strangers or a new acquaintance when you are looking at them in love.  It's like your connection and care for the person bypass the physical.

We notice it and respect it greatly in the couples who have been married and loved each other for many decades.  Time changes their appearance, but the attraction - rooted in love - is so constant and real.

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I've heard people speculate about our bodies in Heaven.  People wonder if we'll be young, skinny, fit, beautiful.  Those are all relative terms anyway, and no one really knows.
I personally am not too worried about how that plays out.
This.  ↓
This right here  ↓  is full of more than enough promise and hope for me:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.  And the sea was gone also. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband.  I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, the home of God is now among His people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them. He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.  For the old world and its evils are gone forever."  And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look I am making all things new!"
Revelation 21:1-5a

I can't read that without crying and hoping.
All I want is to be with Him.
All I want is for all to be made right.

And I desperately want others to realize His love and grace before it comes to this moment.
This beauty is at the end of Revelation.  So many are lost in the war and judgment that precedes this glorious change.

Lord, give us urgency.  Amen.

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As I have studied Revelation, I've tried to better understand this war between good and evil.  This war that has raged since the beginning.
Genesis is so full.  There is so much in the beginning of God's story.  Just the first three chapters hold tons of clues and answers to the mystery of what God started and planned.

I want to point out one piece.
The serpent comes to Eve, and the temptation stems from questioning and twisting what God had commanded.  He tries to manipulate her by making her question God's intentions, as if God did not want what was best for her.  He even tries to celebrate the effects of eating the fruit.
"You won't die!" the serpent hissed. "God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil."  Genesis 3:4-5

Now, if I pause right there.  Eve missed an important point.
Who wants to know evil?
The serpent acted like that would be awesome.  Good AND evil.  You get to know it all.
Anyway, such is the essence of our sin even today.  We are captured by it and drawn to it, no matter how detrimental it may be. (John 8:34-36)

The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise. So she ate some of the fruit.  She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too. At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness.  Genesis 3:6-7

The only thing we know that changed in that moment was the way they saw.
Their sight.  Their vision.
Their view of themselves.  Their view of each other changed.

We often think about this first sin.
The consequences we remember are that Adam and Even had to leave the garden. They would have to work and labor for food, and there would be pain in childbirth.

True, but not completely.

The first consequence was their sight.  I don't completely understand this, and I don't think anyone completely can, but -
I know that the way we see ourselves affects everything we do and every relationship we have.  From this very first sin,  Adam and Eve were no longer comfortable with themselves.
They felt shame.
They were no longer comfortable together.
And, they were no longer comfortable to be in God's presence.
This sight - that now included good and evil - created a barrier.
It changed everything.

God did punish them, and they could no longer have the same relationship with Him.
They were separated by their sin.

But, leaving the garden was actually more about God's love and protection than part of the punishment.  God banished them from the garden so they could not eat from the tree of life.  The tree of life would allow them to live forever.  God did not want them to live forever in their state of shame and brokenness.

God's plan would continue - ultimately with the complete work of salvation in Jesus Christ, His son.
Jesus would redeem all that was lost and make a Way for people to come back to God - fully and completely.

Back to Revelation -

And the angel showed me a pure river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, coursing down the center of the main street.  On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit with a fresh crop each month.  The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.  Revelation 22:1-2

"See I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to repay all according to their deeds.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End."
Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit of the tree of life.  Revelation 22:12-14

Then, the tree of life.
The tree of life - life eternal - for all who have chosen salvation in Jesus.

That is Heaven!
Heaven is being connected back to God.
Living in the presence of God.
FOREVER!

I don't know what we will look like  - what bodies we will have - but I know we will see differently.
We will see the way God intended.

And perhaps, that is all that will change.
Eyes that only see with Love.

Be Thou my vision, O lord of my heart;
Nought be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, in the day and the night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my wisdom, be Thou my true word;
I ever with Thee, and Thou with me Lord;
Thou my Great Father, and I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling and I with Thee one. 

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High King of Heaven when the battle is done,
Grant Heaven's joy to me, bright heaven's sun!
Christ of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be thou my vision, O Ruler of all.