Title: Picturing Heaven: 40 hope-filled devotions with coloring pages
Author: Randy Alcorn
Illustrator: Lizzie Preston
Genre: Coloring Book
Audience: Adult
ABOUT THE BOOK
Imagine Heaven the way the Bible describes it - a place of exquisite beauty brimming with marvelous detail and intricate patterns; a special dwelling place free of corruption and sin; and a place of both rest and enjoyable, meaningful work.
Let the power and majesty of Heaven fill your heart with joy as you color these 40 designs carefully interpreted from the pages of Scripture. Savor a respite from daily life as you read and meditate on devotions from best-selling author Randy Alcorn, a leading authority on Heaven. Picturing Heaven will offer you comfort and relaxation, while filling your heart with restful assurance that God prepares a special place for those who love Him.
~ MY REVIEW ~
**4 stars**
Picturing Heaven is a fairly large book filled with lovely and unique coloring pages. Beside each illustration is a little devotional and some Scripture. The theme is heaven, so the Bible verses chosen talk about heaven, eternity, and longing to be with God and do everything as unto Him. In the devotionals, Randy Alcorn talks about heaven and what it will be like. He explores thoughts of the new heaven and new earth, creation, God's design, and God Himself. Some of this is just speculation, I feel, but he does also use Scripture in his musings of heaven.
This adult coloring book was definitely different than I imagined it would be. Despite the gorgeous front cover, there are actually very few pictures inside of just beautiful nature and such. One illustration is of a bride with a verse on the skirt of her dress talking about the wedding feast of the Lamb. Some are of animals, and some of people in rather modern-appearing surroundings. There are illustrations of galaxies, crowns, and pretty rooms. It's not what I expected from a coloring book about heaven, but it is unique - and the coloring pages along with the devotionals give you something to ponder and can be very encouraging.
Keeping an eternal perspective, thinking of heaven and our ultimate home, and meditating on the fact that Jesus Christ is preparing a place for us there are wonderful practices, I believe! I look forward to reading and coloring more in Picturing Heaven!
I received a copy of Picturing Heaven from the Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for my honest review.
Hey, readers. So, I'm feeling a bit, um, tired today. Mainly because of my previous post, which was about magic. That post is by far my most popular post ever. I was not expecting that. And while I got a lot of encouragement, I also got a bit of disagreement.Which is to be expected
of course—and I'm not by any means condemning those who disagreed with me!
Now, first off, I want to apologize if I ever sounded rude or careless. That was NOT my intention at all. I do admit that I felt hurt and frustrated sometimes, because it felt like some people were missing the whole point of my post. Which was: Sorcery/witchcraft is sin. Portraying sin as "good" is wrong. Not only is that dishonoring God, but it's also making light of Satan's dark work. I'm not trying to act like I know everything. I absolutely don't! I mess up! I say the wrong things sometimes. I don't have it all together. I fail. Many people had to point out, "Well, this or that isn't true about Harry Potter." And so I had to change some things and whatnot. I wasn't right about everything by any means. But what I want to know is: what was wrong with the theme of the post? Is something about it Biblically incorrect? The Bible says sorcery is sin. So books portraying sorcery as "just fine" are kind of saying: "I know You said sorcery is sin, God. But ... whatever. It's not that important." I mean, yikes! Don't you think there's a problem with that? Why are we so stuck in our temporary lives? Guys, this world is going to pass away! Eternity is at hand! So why are we, as Christians (myself included), trying to get away with everything we can possibly get away with? We should be going to extreme lengths to glorify God and be holy. As this guy named Joseph Solomon says:
"I'm not down with legalism. Being up-tight Christians who try to be really, really good does not save us. However, I am down with practical holiness. Being serious about being holy is not legalism. ...Not because it saves us, but because it glorifies Him." "We're not saved because we do good things. We do good things because we're saved." "Christians are called to do right because we want to glorify Christ in what we do, in light of the relationship that we have with Him." "Christians should not always ask: Can I? But Should I?"
Here are some of Joseph Solomon's Youtube videos. (...which I have found hugely encouraging, convicting, enlightening, and just full of wisdom, and humor. *winks* [Not to mention, Biblical])
So while I'm not called to condemn anyone, I can "judge" them if God has already laid that judgement down. I can say: "Hey, lying is a sin, guys." Or "Adultery is wrong, you need to stop doing that." Or "God says sorcery is evil. We need to use discernment with what we read." Now some sins are less easy to discern than others. So if you're reading books that you think might be portraying sorcery as "good", I would say to search the Scriptures to see what it says about that. Sincerely ask God to convict you if it's wrong for you to read those books. He will convict you if it's wrong. Or He will show you that it's not wrong, or whatever. So there you are. No judging from me! You can't fault me for encouraging you to ask your Creator and Lord to show you what's wrong and right, can you? *smiles* I, too, really need to do that. There are some books that I've read and loved that I suspect may have content that is not very glorifying to God. If He convicts me that they are dishonorable, then I'm just going to have to strive to give them up! :{
Again, not because I think God will love me more if I do. But because I love Him. I want to glorify Him because He redeemed me! Because He guides me, even when I mess up time and time again! Because He loves me, guys!
If someone has touched our heart with their beautiful love, we strive to honor and love them back, right? So why aren't we (me included!!!) doing that when it comes to God?
We tend to just make God our "religion". Go to church every Sunday. Pray when things get tough. But otherwise we just kind of do things the way we want. Walk on the line. Ignore the call to be holy. Blind ourselves to the fleetingness of life and the hugeness of eternity.
I am so guilty of this stuff myself. But we need to stop. Jesus Christ is not "fire insurance". Christianity is not just a "religion". It's ALL about relationship. When you give your life to Christ, you're surrendering your life to Him. You're saying: "God, I repent of my sins that are separating me from You. And I accept the gift of Jesus Christ's sacrifice that breaches that gap between us." Now teach me to be holy as You are, because I love You. I want to please You. I want to live my life the fullest for You! Because You are everything!
We can totally give up temporary, earthly things if they don't honor our eternal, all-loving, majestic, and holy God. It might be hard at first. But it's worth it in the end. I know, because I've given up things that brought me pleasure for a time, but were ultimately dishonoring to God. And let me tell you, those momentary pleasures, those "edgy" doings, those bits of earthly "happiness", that mortal excitement, is NOTHING compared to the JOY I get from knowing that those distractions and sins no longer muddle my relationship with my Savior. That I am even closer to Him (not because He was far away, but because I myself was putting distance between us). That I am glorifying the One who sacrificed for and loves me! Ah! There is so much true joy in practicing "practical holiness". In honoring an all-holy God.
I am NOT ashamed about my desire to be holy. To do what is right. I am not ashamed of my God. I am not ashamed to say what He says is sin, IS SIN.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..." Romans 1:16 ESV
Now, this is not to say that you who disagreed with me are "bad". I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I'm not condemning you. I'm not tying to act like I'm better than you. TRULY.
I'm messed up. I fail. I sin. I do wrong. I'm no better than you.
But I just want to explain WHY I wrote the posts about sensuality and magic. I want you to know why I strive to stay away from books like that. I want you to know that I am not sorry for saying sorcery is sin. I'm not sorry for saying portraying "sin" as okay is wrong. I'm not sorry for encouraging people to pray and seek God. I'm not ashamed of saying those things! I will keep saying them! And I hope you will encourage me, likewise, to pray and seek God if ever you think I'm doing something wrong or dishonoring to Him.
When did we as Christians start skirting around important issues? Hiding our beliefs. Never speaking about controversial matters. Saying "Don't judge me". Trying to agree with everyone. Don't make anyone feel bad. Keep the peace, even at the cost of truth. I don't rebuke you—you don't rebuke me.
The Bible says that the world will hate us. The Bible says we will have struggles. We will be scorned for Christ's sake. Life as a Christian isn't meant to be "easy", "safe", "comfortable"...
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you." John 15:18 ESV
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 ESV
“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!" John 6:22 ESV
"However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name." 1 Peter 4:16 NIV
"But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed." 1 Peter 3:14 NIV
"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:5-8 NIV
So. I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. I hope and pray that I'm not coming across as legalistic, rude, or arrogant. But I will say without fear that we as Christians should be seeking God and striving to practice "practical holiness". It's a given! *smiles*
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments." John 14:15 ESV
Are we always going to be perfect? Never going to sin? Never mess up? Never be wrong? NO. I believe we will struggle for the rest of our earthly lives. But, that doesn't mean we can't strive for holiness each and every day. And overcome by His strength!
"For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." Romans 6:14 NIV
Because God loves us. And we want to
glorify Him. And honor Him. And love Him back. And fight the good fight.
Demolish darkness and evil in His name. Be a light. Draw others to Him.
That is what's truly important, right?
Loving God. And loving others. And "loving others" means you want
what's best for them. It doesn’t mean that you should keep from
offending them and support them in their sin. That is not love.
We want to be holy because our holy God
offers and gives us LOVE, HOPE, and ETERNAL LIFE. And we want to share that
with others also. Because that's the very best thing we can ever share with
them. The very greatest love we can ever give them.
What is this earthly life? It shall pass
away. But eternity is forever. Are we living in the light of someday living in
heaven forever with God?
Blessings, dear readers. I hope you're not
taking this as condemnation. God is LOVE. But He is also HOLY. May we all grow
closer to Him each and every day together! ^_^
"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves." Colossians 1:13
