I used to consider heaven as above, away, distant, a place to go in the future, not something I’d think about very much. But over the past several years, my understanding of heaven has changed, been brought near, into the realm of this world. Not through a near-death experience, but through experiencing life have I begun to glimpse a little bit of heaven.

The first time I had a taste of this was when I was helping with intake in a medical clinic in the slums of India. Taking blood pressures of hundreds of patients, the impoverished “Untouchables” that make up the lowest level of Indian society, I would make a point of gently touching their arms, often laying a reassuring hand on theirs as the cuff tightened. Later, reflecting on why I so badly wanted to return, I realized that those moments, with my hand pressed to the arm of a desperately poor and often mistreated human, I experienced heaven pressed close to earth, just as close as skin to skin.

Christ is seated on his throne at the right hand of God in heaven, and yes, he waits to welcome us there, but he has also given us a foretaste of what is to come, by his presence on earth and his presence in our lives. “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 3:2) The more I read scripture, the more I see that a huge part of who Jesus is is the one who brings love and justice, and he calls us to do the same; he invites us to be a part of his kingdom now.

It doesn’t have to be in India. I’m finding places to taste heaven right in my own community as well. In however much time I have left on this earth, I want to spend as much of it as possible pressed close to His kingdom.

“To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Mark 12:33-34

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6-7