From the publisher:
This revolutionary book about our future is based on the simple idea that, according to the Bible, heaven is not our eternal home--the New Earth is. As Jesus says in the gospel of Matthew, the next chapter of our story begins with "the renewal of all things," by which he means the earth we love in all its beauty, our own selves, and the things that make for a rich life: music, art, food, laughter and all that we hold dear. Everything shall be renewed "when the world is made new."
More than anything else, how you envision your future shapes your current experience. If you knew that God was going to restore your life and everything you love any day; if you believed a great and glorious goodness was coming to you--not in a vague heaven but right here on this earth--you would have a hope to see you through anything, an anchor for your soul, "an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God" (Hebrews 6:19).
Most Christians (most people for that matter) fail to look forward to their future because their view of heaven is vague, religious, and frankly boring. Hope begins when we understand that for the believer nothing is lost. Heaven is not a life in the clouds; it is not endless harp-strumming or worship-singing. Rather, the life we long for, the paradise Adam and Eve knew, is precisely the life that is coming to us. And that life is coming soon
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Eldredge presents the idea to us that without hope we really aren't living. He examines the difference between presumptive optimism and true faith based hope. Have you ever met someone who doesn't listen to your pain but glosses over it with statements of "joy, joy, joy". Well John Eldredge does NOT do that. He knows pain, deep pain. He knows how it feels to have lost hope and be in a dark pit of dispair. He has grieved! He is real and not superficially smiling at us - his readers. He shares very personal gut-wrenching stories from his own life and family. He weaves these with stories of historical figures and people he's met personally. He shares his own insights into how he believes God wants to join with us in this life's journey. This book is not just a guide book to find peace but it is a book to help connect us with the Author of peace, joy, faith and hope. You will meet God in these pages and because of that you will find the way to hope during times that seem unbearable.
I received this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
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