Misunderstanding Heaven

I attended Sunday service at a church I've never been to before in order to witness a friend's baptism. The sermon touched on this topic of heaven and how our society and even Christian circles seem to promote and believe this idea that heaven is going to be a place of living in the clouds, with angels playing their harps and singing all the time. A place where pretty angels will be served Philly cream cheese atop their bagels by a handsome manservant. Or that heaven will be a wonderful place because all we do all day long is lie around in a hammock soaking up sun on the beach surrounded by our family and friends. And everyone is smiling and happy. But that's not entirely it either. How much of this lying around on the beach can we really take? Were we made to do this? I don't know about you, but I cannot lie on a beach for more than a day. And I can only eat so much Philly cream cheese before I get sick to my stomach. So what's heaven going to be like really?

The pastor pointed me to Genesis 1 and 2 (the beginning of time when God first created the heavens and earth and when everything he made was very good - and the state of everything was in perfect unity with God, including man's relationship with God) and then in Revelation 21 and 22 ( the end of time when there is a new heaven and a new earth, when God makes everything new, restores everything including our relationship with Him - When God dwells once again with man!). Everything will be restored to the way that God originally intended -- Eden will be restored. No longer will there be any curse (Rev 22:3)!!

What does this mean? What will it be like in heaven? In Restored Eden?

Back to Genesis 1 and 2, God created the Garden of Eden and he created Adam and even before sin entered into the picture, God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. So we'll be working as we were created to do in heaven! What a concept! But our work will no longer have a curse on it as Revelation points out. It will not be toilsome and hard and difficult. And therefore we won't need those vacations on the beach to lie around and do nothing!

This totally absolutely resonates with me. it gets me super excited just writing this out. I wasn't created to lie around in the eternal life doing nothing. It wasn't God's intention for us from day 1 so it doesn't seem to make sense that it would be his intention for us in eternity. just as we seek out a purpose in life on earth, wouldn't we also seek out a purpose in life on heaven?