While reserving judgment on what Rob Bell says about hell in his controversial new book, Love Wins, I loved this thing that he said about heaven:
So when people ask, “What will we do in heaven?” one possible answer is to simply ask: “What do you loved to do now that will go on in the world to come?”
What is it that when you do it, you lose track of time because you get lost in it? What do you do that makes you think, “I could do this forever”? What is it that makes you think, “I was made for this”?
If you ask these kinds of questions long enough you will find some impulse related to creation. Some way to be, something to do. Heaven is both the peace, stillness, serenity, and calm that come from having everything in its right place—that state in which nothing is required, needed, or missing—and the endless joy that comes from participating in the ongoing creation of the world.†
† Rob Bell, Love Wins (New York: HarperOne, 2011), 47-48.
I certainly hope heaven will not just be singing praise songs all day, although I like to do that! I like the idea of participating…I like to be busy doing fun, meaningful things. Do you think they need drywall mudding, sanding and painting?