JOHN 14:1-3 – “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
THEME OF THE DAY. WHY DO YOU WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN? Imagine we are in a group of Christians, let’s say five, and the question is asked, “Why do you want to go to heaven?”, what would the responses be including our own? Here are the five answers I might hear among the group.
First, some believers want to go to heaven to be reunited with loved ones who have gone before them. That will certainly be a joyful occasion; to see dear loved ones, those of the closest relationships we had on earth being reunited in the bonds of Christ’s love. Another answer would be to see the Lord Jesus. This one is very high on the list of yearnings in the believer; to see the One who bears the marks of the reason why they are in heaven – His crucifixion. A third answer might be to escape the curse and misery of life in this sinful world. No doubt that is a longing among Christians. Who has not grown weary in their fight against sin wanting it to end soon? Moving on, I might hear a fourth answer along the lines of perfect rest from the arduous labor of Gospel service and sacrificial acts of love for hurting people. And this too, is a good motive for wanting to be in heaven. The Apostle John tells us in the Revelation, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” (Revelation 14:13). But there is a fifth one. And I might put this highest on the list for Christians wanting to go to heaven. It is inseparably tied to number two – seeing the Lord Jesus. For me? All the other four answers are good and Biblical, but this one, yes this one, is the one I think best and want to become the chief motive in my life for heaven. I pray it will be for you as well.
The greatest motive to long for heaven will be our glorification and the unhindered ability to fully obey the Greatest Command. Remember it? Jesus states it and it is a Biblical truth in both testaments – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). Christian, don’t you get sad because you cannot love God fully, perfectly, in both heart and mind? Don’t we experience sadness of falling short of complete inward and outward obedience to the command to “Love God with all our hearts, souls, strength and minds?” Healthy Christians feel this spiritual pain a lot, but they also rejoice that someday, oh yes, someday, they will do what the new birth has produced in them – a longing to love God fully and perfectly. There is a day coming when we will see the Lord, be completely changed into His image, and be unhindered in our worshipful love to Him (1 John 3:1-3). Really, isn’t that the greatest motive to want to be in heaven?
And ironically, the more we long for that, the more effective we will be in this world for the Lord Jesus. Anticipating heaven and perfect love makes us diligent in serving and representing Him who is heaven and perfect love!
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You that someday, I will love you with a pure love, perfect love, and never wavering love.”
QUOTE: “Ask God to make our longing for heaven more intense, not to escape this world, but to finally be able to love Him as He deserves.”