Treasure in Heaven?

These thoughts have been echoing in my head the past few days. I don't know if I even agree with the direction my questions lead. But that's always a fun place to be.

~~~

We are to store up treasures in heaven. To hoard the spiritual. To continually live our lives with one eye on present behavior and the other eye on future reward.

Is this right, and just, and appropriate?

What if there is no heaven? What if there is no future reward?

Now, don't misunderstand me, I believe there is an afterlife of paradise or emptiness. I believe there will be a new heaven and a new earth. But do I "need" it to be thus? Do I depend upon it?

If God is as holy and righteous and transcendent as both He and we claim He is, then why must we demand or expect reward? What right have we?

The promise of heaven sometimes simply disturbs me. It leads people to a "tit-for-tat", quid pro quo approach to life that is less than holy or spiritual in my opinion. We are trained as good Christians to suffer today for our crown in heaven; and we expect to hold God to this bargain down to the smallest scar and most inconsequential inconvenience.

And this promise of heaven seems to be the hinge upon which we swing all of our decisions. Many of us--perhaps all of us--are likely to live our lives differently if God were to say "there is no reward--I am the Lord your God and I have given you birth, and life, and death. There is no more reward, there is no more punishment beyond that."

I'll admit it--there is a part of me that thinks "well, then I won't be sleeping alone next Friday night..."

If God is who God is--regardless of the whole aspect of the afterlife--shouldn't we strive to live lives in the here and now that are pleasing to God? What if that--the pleasure God might experience in watching us live well (and there is an idea worth exploring...)--is the only reward at our feet? Is that good enough for us? Are we willing to honor and worship a God like that?

Would I take pleasure in someone's behavior when I know their choices are fueled only by some future benefit that I will provide? I am not usually pleased and delighted by a favor given when I know a future favor will be expected.

How often do I face some trial, some frustration, some disappointment in my life and follow up with the thought "I will endure this, but only because it will pay off eternally once I croak"? Is this what God wants of us--for us to structure our choices, our values, our very being solely based upon a cost/benefit analysis with an eternally long future value?

I may choose well in that context but I doubt that God is pleased or delighted with my mutterings.

Does God want us living our lives simply wishing to die so we can get on with the reward?

(Certainly I'm not the only one to think "Lord, just take me now..." Is God pleased by us devaluaing his gifts of life and creation and experience?)

Excerpt

Time ticks by; we grow older. Before we know it, too much time has passed and we've missed the chance to have had other people hurt us. To a younger me this sounded like luck; to an older me this sounds like a quiet tragedy."

Douglas Coupland, in Life After God

Christians in college

A surprisingly interesting take from Time magazine:

College is traditionally a time of transition and new freedoms, the years when young people have to figure out for the first time who they are. The task is even more complex for the growing number of devout young Christians on secular college campuses who feel called to approach this time in a way that sets them apart. They draw inspiration from Paul's letter to the Romans:"Do not be conformed to this world." But the Bible gives few details on how to navigate the collegiate world in 2005, leaving Christians to grapple with tough questions as they try to integrate their beliefs--and themselves--into college life..

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