Psalm 25:6-7 (MSG)
6 Mark the milestones of your mercy and love, God;
Rebuild the ancient landmarks!
7 Forget that I sowed wild oats;
Mark me with your sign of love.
Plan only the best for me, God!

Luke 9:21-22 (ESV)
21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

Revelation 21:4-5 (ESV)
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

It’s a process. We do, we ask for forgiveness, God forgives, He sets up Heaven on earth – a new Heaven and a new earth. It’s a process we are walking through. We’re in it now.

We are not perfect. We sin with our thought, with our words, with what we do. It is what it is. None of us are perfect, right? So we sin.

Trouble is, God won’t let sin near him and won’t let it into heaven. That poses a problem for us when there’s a new Heaven and earth coming – one where God is present. So, God fixed that for us too – through Christ. Why Christ and not yourself, Buddha, Mohammed, Shiva, Vishnu or Shakti? Because Christ came to us and forgave us as we are. All the others make it about us being good enough to get to heaven, and we just don’t have it in us – anything but Christ is an giant mouse exercise wheel where we exercise like crazy and are never move like we need to be.

Christ has sent us the healing power of the Holy Spirit to guide us, to change us from the inside, like no zen master can.

It’s a process. It’s planned and in motion. It’s perfect. We have that time until the next step in the process to lean into Him and his promises, his commands.