How important is Heaven right now? Understanding it is one of the most important building blocks of following Christ. I asked various Christians what they thought about Heaven and I got a real surprise what some said. The answer would be funny if it were not such a serious topic Most Christians are not looking forward to Heaven. In fact they do not think about it at all. This is because they believe that Heaven will be – can you guess it? – boring! We will be just a bunch of spirits, wearing white robes, floating in space – forever and ever and ever.
I wrote this series because Christians in 21st century America know little about Heaven, so it does not enter their minds often, certainly not each day. They have no concrete knowledge of the facts, so they suffer fear, weak faith and broken morals. The good news is that we can step into a new level of Christian peace and power when we take up the responsibility to know about Heaven, to rely on it and to teach it to our children.
So here is the truth: Heaven will not be boring! In fact Heaven will include our very own, very physical planet, only it will be made brand new. We will praise God forever, but that does not mean we will only be occupied with being in some cloud based church building. Think of it this way: today we praise God all the time, it does not mean we live in the church building. We work, travel, laugh and look for fulfillment in life in Christ
In my surveys of teens and adults I was surprised to find that this is the most common response from Christians about heaven. Try asking the teenagers in your family what they think. Younger people tend to be open and honest. Be ready to hear answers from “I don’t know much about it” to “yes I know what Heaven is but I don’t want to go because it sounds boring” Where do we get this idea?
Often people base this belief on two sources of error about our eternal home
First, this is a misunderstanding of the scripture that tells us that we will “praise the Lord forever.” They conclude that this means all we will do for eternity is sit in church singing songs. And let’s face it - too often church meetings are boring. So an eternity of them is not attractive to anyone.
But that verse actually means that heaven will be so great with the goodness of God, not that we will be in a church service all the time. The earth and heavens will be remade, and life there will be similar to the Garden of Eden where people both worked and fellowshipped with God. Heaven will be a life of exciting activity, achieving great things, enjoying friends and loved ones and occupying a perfect place. Praising God means that not only will we gather to worship, but also that each day we will see the Lord, and there will always to be reasons to praise God for our perfect home.
Second, we Christians have looked to world culture and unbiblical religions which have influenced our culture. One example is the idea that in heaven we will all wear literal white robes, floating around and playing harps forever. Some Christians believe that we will be spirits only without bodies. These ideas are not from te Bible. I can remember as a child seeing cartoons where a character would depart from the earth after some comical death, and float away. Even in children’s cartoons influence our view of Heaven.
But God created us as both spirit and body, and in Heaven both parts of us will be there in one person, as we are now but without sin, death, pain or sorrow. In Heaven we will be fully human, and our experience will be infinitely more happy than now. What is sinful will not exist in Heaven, but our physical bodies will. Greek pagan philosophy of the ancient world taught that what is spirit is good, and what is physical is evil. Christians of the ancient world added that to our ideas about Heaven.
Why is this important to our lives today? What is practical about correct belief about heaven?
First, because God has commanded us to make Heaven a part of our view of life, and how we live. In Colossians 2 Christians are taught to “set your mind on things above” Our lives are to be founded on the will of God which He reveals from Heaven about our wonderful, exciting future. Philippians teaches that we are citizens of Heaven, and Heaven is where we are going, and Heaven’s gifts are waiting there. Christians are to know Heaven’s laws. We are to obey them here on earth, not to follow the world’s false doctrines
Second, because believing in Heaven can give us strength to live through the hard times on this earth. Understanding Heaven is just as important as understanding any and all Bible truth. God has revealed it to us, and as we obey Him and live now we overcome sin and discouragement. By looking forward to Heaven we refresh our hearts and increase our faith.
In the days and months after Jesus died there was an explosion in the number of converts to Christ. It is estimated that in the next few decades hundreds of thousands of people put their faith in Christ all around the known world. This is surprising considering that to follow Christ mean severe persecution, even death. Some were pressured to leave their homes, lose their businesses and their friends who did not believe. Thousands were killed, openly and cruelly.
How do you choose Christ when to do so meant such terrible pain to come? How did they? Church History records that those early Christians understood that Heaven was theirs and that nothing in the world could take that from them. They knew that even if they lost their lives, they would live forever in eternity. The reflection question for this month is: do I take time to think about the wonderful truth of Heaven. Is my mind on Heaven, and the things of God? Or do I let the problems of the day take my focus and cause me to worry?
The truths about Heaven are essential to our lives today. Let us learn them. Let us trust the God of Heaven, and follow Jesus no matter what. Let our ethics come from the standards of Heaven not of the culture of this world. Let us remember to set our hearts and minds on the things above.