The Lord’s Prayer talks about “on earth as it is in heaven.”  To me, heaven is not a far off place that we go to after we die, although I do believe in eternal life. To me, heaven is a continuous place, where God, good, is supreme and in charge, and bliss and harmony are present and undeniable. It’s consciously being where God is, while being aware that good is governing completely everything. This can happen here or hereafter, but I suggest we get on with learning to connect with it and live there now.

Jesus tells us, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Carefully prioritizing what we treasure is something we can do now, and doing this benefits us greatly.

Jesus also says that, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”  His recommendation?  “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.”

To me, that kingdom is heaven, where harmony reigns and eternal good is omnipotent and supreme. This is a spiritual place and not a material one. The reason it is so hard for a rich person to get there, is any focus on materiality hides– or even seems to obliterate– spirituality. It’s like putting a blindfold on and trying to move toward to a certain position. You can’t see where you are going, so it is hard to get there.

The irony is that many think that if only they were richer they would experience heaven on earth. The rich keep trying to get richer, because it hasn’t yet brought them the blessings they yearn for. But bliss and harmony come from a completely different place.

We should instead cultivate our treasure in heaven. We’ve got to stop thinking that answers are in more or better materiality. It is easy to idolize materiality or even fleshly bodies. Can we forsake that material sense of things and turn our attention to what God is and what God is doing instead?

God is infinite, all-powerful, ever-present and good. God created you and formed you in God’s own image and likeness. As God’s creation, you are similar to God, and each of us represents all of God’s qualities and attributes. To the extent that you can admit with conviction that you are God’s exact reflection– nothing less and nothing more– that sets you free to experience heaven, harmony and bliss, right where you are. It slams the door shut against problems and limitations, and instead opens you up to experience the amazing holiness and fullness of being eternally one with God.

Doing that, you become a transparency for God, no longer getting in the way, for you realize you are nothing of yourself, but simply what God made you to be. Now when others see you, what they actually see is God at work. Relinquishing the sham of material selfhood might initially seem like a loss, until you realize and savor the gain of your true immortal identity, which is with you now and always. Then you see how unfettered and free you are, as you act with all power of the God, who caused you and maintains you.

The only way to make this paradigm shift is to place your treasures in heaven, which means to value expressing Godlike qualities and attributes, more than anything else. Stop treasuring your accomplishments, your material body, your money, your human story, or your possessions. Treasure instead how God made you and how God is working with you. Each Godlike quality you express is better than a fist full of diamonds. With joy, do everything you do for God alone.

As we regularly seek and earnestly treasure only our spiritual status, as God’s perfect creation, which is not included in any material selfhood, we’ll experience heaven’s blissful harmony right where we are.