The Heaven Question (cross-posted from Xanga)

I don’t think I talk about my siblings a whole lot online (even though I post numerous pictures), but I have to admit that they inspire many of my thoughts, especially now that I am spending a lot of time with them. Most of you probably know that the Lord specially granted me six brothers and one sister. That one sister is sixteen years younger than me, so we don’t really have all that much in common. I’m closer to the older boys who are still at home. But I have fun observing all of them…

Anyway, one of my brothers is basically a drama king, though perhaps not in the typical sense. I don’t have much experience with drama queens, so I guess I can’t compare very well. This brother tends to be paranoid about people provoking him or doing things to him. He is very concerned that people are out to kill him, whether by flicking a germ-covered bit of food onto his plate or by attacking him.

While we were in Nebraska, he and a certain cousin had a great degree of difficulty getting along. My brother loves to take offense where none is intended and react strongly to the smallest possible offense and my cousin likes to give offense where he can get a strong reaction (a small one would be good enough, but a big one is even better). These two boys are actually about two and a half years apart in age, but they always manage to find each other at family gatherings.

One night, after a lot of yelling and screaming (and, trust me, this brother of mine is not abused—he just turns everything into a huge ordeal), I was talking to him to try to find out exactly what had happened. He explained, “He almost killed me!” My mom didn’t think my next question was especially pertinent, but his statement roused my curiosity. “Why would that have been a bad thing?”

My brother answered, “I don’t want to die. I want to live.” “Don’t you want to go to heaven?” “No! It’ll be boring there!”

So that got me thinking. My brother is not the only person I’ve encountered who seems to have that idea. Two years ago, I discussed this very subject with a thirty-year-old man who had the exact same opinion. I was probing (as you can imagine) to try to find out whether his passion in life really was to know Jesus Christ fully (because he had just informed me that he had once considered becoming a pastor). He told me that he often wondered if all we're going to do in heaven is "just sit up there and worship God." I would have frowned or looked perplexed, but I was talking to him face-to-face and I didn’t want to reveal any kind of emotional response to his words.

See, I had this idea that God made us to worship Him. Isaiah 43:7, “I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” John Piper explains this very well in Don’t Waste Your Life. If we’re created for God’s glory, then we’re here on earth for that just as much as we’ll be in heaven to worship and magnify the Lord. Paul said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). He said that it is reasonable for us to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. Considering that God created us for His glory, this does, indeed, seem reasonable.

The problem for me comes when I forget the full scope of eternity and start focusing on things here. Unless life is really hard, I actually tend to get caught up in temporal hopes and dreams. While the fulfillment of these hopes and dreams may bring glory to God, focusing on them alone certainly does not. But the reason that I’m talking about heaven and whether we think it will be boring is because our perspective on the future affects our actions in the present. If we think that this life is all that really matters or all that will be “fun,” we will live accordingly.

If we don’t think heaven is that great, we’ll live like this is all that we have and we’ll hold on to it as much as possible. Last night, I was instant messaging a friend whose family owns a business devoted to healthy food products. She tries to keep all this very balanced, though, so she quoted Ray Comfort, saying, “Eat right. Stay fit. Die anyway.” Eventually, that is what will happen. The question is: How will our lives now impact eternity? Do they matter?

At church recently, the Sunday night messages have been about heaven and how the suffering we experience here works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17). Most of my life, I think I’ve ignored this and attempted to live the most comfortable Christian life possible. I think I often really do believe that there is nothing better than this—because my life here really has been pretty comfortable…not as comfortable as I want, but comfortable enough that my focus is here. Today, I was listening to this message by John Piper and I was struck by his forcible reminder that those who choose not to be married for the Kingdom of God will be abundantly compensated in the future.

But do I really believe it? Do I believe that the future is going to be infinitely grander than the present? Very often, I’m not inclined to believe that. And the problem is that this doesn’t just affect me. In all my interaction with people, my perspective on eternity and God’s economy comes through my communication. Whether I’m talking to my little brother or grown men about heaven, I don’t think I can appropriately convey the truth if I’m not firmly convinced that it is the case that God has a greater plan for eternity that may not always be accomplished through my temporal happiness.

Of course, how I interact with people isn’t the only way my perspective influences my life. If I think that this is all there is (or all that’s really worth living), I’m going to pursue my goals and dreams without reference to eternity. I’ll look for what I think will bring me (alone) pleasure. And that, according to John Piper (and according to God’s Word, I’d say), would be wasting my life.

And so it is that I ask what you think of heaven…and trust that your response will show you where your heart is.