I woke up the other morning with this song in my head for some reason. It’s Five Finger Death Punch’s “Far From Home”. The video below, with over three million hits, is a tribute to America’s Armed Forces. The video is moving, but I wonder about the lyrics.
The chorus goes: “It’s almost like, your heaven’s trying everything to keep me out” Keep me out alternates with “break me down.”
Doesn’t sound like any heaven I know. What is misunderstood in the Gospel message is that heaven is exclusionary- keeping certain people with certain beliefs or certain lifestyles out. Yet the truth of the Gospel is that heaven has come down to earth for every one of us. Jesus, the Son of God present at the creation of the world, walked on this earth in the flesh experiencing all the same struggles as you or I only to be gruesomely killed to atone for our sins. Heaven isn’t keeping anyone out because heaven came down to us.
It’s almost like, my heaven’s trying everything to get me in.