In the Spotlight

The tricky thing about Heaven, is that we don’t know many details about it! It is clear from the Bible though, that God loves all of creation, including animals and humans, and that all of creation is waiting for Jesus come again and introduce us to heaven. For those of us who can choose our actions (that’s us humans), going to heaven is a choice we make throughout our lives. It is about choosing God, choosing to seek the truth and choosing to love in our life here on earth. Even if we can’t know exact details about Heaven, we can trust that God has our eternal happiness is in his hands, and that’s the safest place for our future to be.

God loves us and longs to be in conversation with us, so it’s not really his style to ignore us when we’re talking to him! The key thing we need to do is learn to listen to him. Sometimes God’s answer is clear, and we can see something happen. Sometimes God may seem silent, but what’s really going on is that he’s said ‘no’, or ‘maybe’, or ‘not just yet.’ If that’s the case, we can ask why, and try listening again. If we trust in God, we will begin to see that the different ways he answers our prayers are eventually for the best.

We don’t get to go to heaven because we’re good. This is a relief because we all do things that are wrong! No matter what we do we are loved by God, and God wants us all to be in heaven with him. Because of this great love, Jesus took all of our sins (including lying) on himself and paid the price for them on the cross, so that nothing would get between us and God. Every day we have the opportunity to believe in Jesus again, to say sorry for the things we have done wrong, to accept God’s forgiveness, and to keep making our way towards heaven.

God created us to know him and he promises that when we look for him we will find him. Since the beginning of time, all over the world, people have developed different ways of relating to God and understanding him. Jesus said he came to show us the truth about God, and to lead the way to the one true God. For those people who haven’t had the opportunity to get to know Jesus, the way they understand God and express their faith may be different to our own, and they may understand there to be many gods. It’s good to talk about the differences between religions and really listen to what we can learn from other faiths, because the Holy Spirit is also at work in them.

St Paul talks about creation being a sign to us of God’s existence. When we think about the beauty of nature, about babies being born, about the vastness of the ocean or the universe… all these things can help us remember God, and to know that he is present with us in all things. St John also said that God is love, and that means we are very close to God whenever we love, or are loved! If ever it’s hard, ask the Holy Spirit to help you know how close God is.

God created us to know him. It’s like he’s given us a hunch that he’s there, and lots of clues as to how to get to know him, and then it’s up to us what we do with that. In the Bible we read story after story of people searching for God and praying to him, and then God doing exciting stuff in their lives that proved to them he existed (think of Moses and the red sea!).

God has given us a great gift called free will. That means that he doesn’t control us, and doesn’t just stop people doing bad things (otherwise we’d be like robots). Because of this, there are some bad things that happen even to good people. Sometimes God does warn people in gentle ways, and saves them from danger, and the more we choose to listen to God, the more chance we have to recognise his voice when he’s giving us these important messages! When there’s been no warning, we have to trust that God can see that some good will come from the bad situation. For example, it’s often when people are suffering that they begin to turn to God and get to know him, and that is even more important than always being healthy and happy.

It’s not your job to change your friends beliefs, they are on their own journey with God. But, as Christians it is our job to represent Jesus to the world. So you have the opportunity to show your friends the love of Jesus in how you deal with them, and when they ask you questions about your faith, be courageous in telling them what you believe. There’s no need to hide your faith. Think about getting involved in a group at Church so that you can make some friends who do believe in Christ, and who can support you.

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you, then be courageous and tell them the truth. If you’re not sure why you believe in God, spend some time thinking about it, and talking about it with friends and family. You could ask your parents or teachers or your priest, why they believe in God. You can also read why other young people believe in God in our Step Ahead interviews on the boy and girls only pages.

A good habit to get into is to take some time before you go to bed, to look back over your day, and see if there’s anything you need to ask forgiveness for. There’s also an opportunity at the beginning of Mass to ‘call to mind our sins’, and to ask God to forgive us. If you need to go confession though, and for some reason you can’t make the Saturday slot, most priests are happy to hear confessions at other times if you call and make an appointment with them. Top tip: Don’t miss out on the grace that comes from the sacrament, find a way to get there!

God has given us what’s called free will, which means we choose our behaviour, and he never forces us to do anything. Sometimes God might want us to do particular things though, so when we pray it’s good to take time to listen to him. You might want to ask what God if there’s something special he wants you to do, it might be telling people about Jesus, or raising money for charities, or just smiling at people! One of the best things about life is discovering what God has in store for us. But the choice is always yours.

God will never ever stop loving you. God is so loving that it is true to say that God IS Love. Some people imagine God is going to punish crush them if they do something wrong. This isn't a good image of who God is. One of the best images is that of a loving and forgiving Father. God does love you and always will.