Have I Ever Wanted Anything Else?
I’ve been thinking a lot about heaven lately. I don’t know why. No big life changes, it’s just been on my mind.
To be honest most of my life I’ve loved the idea of heaven, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been ready to go. As the amazing theologian Kenny Chesney says, “Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody want to go right now.”
I think the problem is our imagination is broken. What if I were to ask you…
Would you like to wake up and never feel guilt again in your life?
Would you like to wake up and never have to deal with any physical or mental shortcomings and love absolutely everything about yourself?
Would you like to wake up and be in the presence of the one person who loves you more than anyone in all of creation and who will love you more each day?
Would you love to wake up and see the unstained creation of a glorious God which makes anything you’ve ever seen pale in comparison?
Would you love to wake up and be free from the doubt, questions, longings and pain which cause you to know inside that there has to be something more?
Would you love to wake up and feel complete joy, purpose and acceptance minus such feelings as lack of self esteem, anger, disappointment, stress, worry, and bitterness?
The answer to any and all of these questions would be yes right?
I think C.S. Lewis summed it up well when he said…
There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever wanted anything else.
Any Thoughts?
I think that we are programmed to want heaven, but we spend all of our time looking for it here and there, but never where we know it can be found. We want to have a our cake and eat it too.
I am taking off for a three hour drive and you are giving me lots to think about.
The visual/image you have described is almost too amazing to imagine. And like Churchpunk mentioned, many of us are trying to find it in all the wrong places.
Have to borrow Paul’s thoughts on this Pete. I Long to be in heaven but have so much to do here still. I want to see Jesus but also want to see my grandson grow up. I want to be reunited with my mom & grandparents but also want to spend time with my wife and adult children. I want to see the cloud of witnesses but also want to continue being a pastor. Yeah, I think about heaven, long to go there, but like you said, “just not yet.”
Right on. Heaven’s good, just not yet. That’s why when we were teenagers, a lot of us begged Jesus to not come back until after we had the chance to have sex. We just couldn’t imagine that anything heaven would provide would be better than that!
i want to go, but i want to help others get there too.
I’m see Heaven from a different angle right now, Pete. To make a long story short, a friend that wasn’t supposed to be able to have a child due to cancer, had a son in April. He had medical problems when he was born but had been stable for 3 months. This month he had surgery and was put on life support. They tried to bring him out of sedation yesterday and it’s not looking good.
Now this child defeated all odds on several occasions. And though both his parents, and I, want him to be pain-free, it’s hard to think of him going to Heaven after only being on this earth for 3 months, all of which have been in the NICU.
I think one reason we sometimes “fear” Heaven is we don’t want our loved ones to be here without us. It’s going to be the greatest thing ever, but we know our family and friends will be hurting because they have lost us. It’s almost like we would feel guilty leaving maybe? I’m not sure.
Pete,
Great thoughts. Becky just wrote about this in a comment in my blog.
I AM dying. Well, we all are. I am 48 years old and have ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). The biggest lesson for my husband and I in all of this is about perseverance and glorifying Him, even when the situation sucks. And it does. I just wrote about heaven last night.
I would love, love, love to say I very honest ‘Yes’ to your questions.
And I love the idea of heaven. My favourite passage is Revelation 4 and 5. It just sounds crazy and I love that.
When I looked at your questions, and thought carefully, I thought’ yes I like the idea of living without doubts, guilt and so on’.
BUT…I’m so used to living with those things. And even things I don’t enjoy living with but I’m used to living with, they draw strangely comfortable. I expect them to be there, and find it very freaky if they aren’t that sometimes I can go looking for the things that bind me down, just because…well…that’s what I’m used to. Crazy? Yes. True? Yes.
If die tomorrow, I’ll be ok with that because do you know what? I’m going to be with Jesus (well, I’m pretty sure I am!). And here’s hoping the legacy I leave behind is a positive one. Are we ready to go at any time? That’s my question…
@Matt – lol. I remember my friend a few days before he was to get married going ‘Jesus can’t return until I’ve married J****’
I think the reason everybody wants to go to Heaven but nobody wants to die is because nobody REALLY knows what happens after we die. We can say that we’re 100 percent sure that we know what happens. But that’s just something we say.
The people who “claim” to have died and come back all have different stories.
My hope/prayer is to pursue doing/experiencing all those things you listed out in the here & now. I think that’s what being a part of Kingdom of God is about.
Good post, Pete. Happy to have you home!
I have several verses hanging on my cube wall so that I can work on memorizing them and contemplating on them. One of the verses is:
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
I have thought on that verse many times and I look around and notice that believers and unbelievers alike are searching for that ‘eternity’ that God has set in our hearts. Self help books, cosmetic surgery, diets and exercise… all of it in search of a better and longer life.
There are so many lessons in that one verse but this I think on… I cannot fathom all that God has been about. Including what heaven will be one day. I can only surmise that it will make the reality of this world appear to be the abject poverty that it is.
Your description heaven sounds incredible and perfect and like everything I could ever desire. Except for the fact that I’d have to leave my husband and kids behind to get there. That’s really what stinks when I consider my own mortality. Of course I want to go to heaven, but at the same time I’d have to leave behind the little piece of heaven I’ve found here on earth, amongst my family and friends.
This is a song waiting to happen! Hope you don’t mind if I use your ideas.
Okay.. so now that I am thinking on this some more..
What is it like for a loving God to look down on His children who suffer in this reality? What does it mean to be God – to be compassionate and loving in the same moment?
I wonder if in Christ’s compassion, as He sits at the right hand of God, if He ever desires to return and take His children home in order to remove them from their present suffering. And yet, He is stayed because of His love for those who will come to know Him if given more time.
And then I am ready to start thinking on the justice of God… His innate authority to be law-maker, judge, and sentencer… not because some greater authority has bestowed that on Him, but because HE IS. If we begin to approach what that thought means, I think we can understand the simplicity of the Gospel in a child-like way.
Its not about what we can do or who we are… He loved us – with actionable love.
And so heaven isn’t the ultimate reward because He is. Maybe heaven isn’t so much a place as it is a state of presence – to be in the presence of such a perfect love would be heavenly.
@mpt, I think that is my biggest struggle. You’re right on (and I don’t say that very often about you). Just kidding.
(please take not of the smiley face)
Reading your description makes me want to go home. Now!
But that’s not my decision, so I’ll try to keep things in perspective and be grateful for where I see His handiwork in the here and now.
The question that arises in my mind is how do we know these to be true about heaven? The Bible is stunningly silent about what Heaven actually entails.
And that in there lies the answer to I think everyone’s – including those of us who believe we will go to heaven – hesitation with going “right now.” We’ll take a less than perfect known, than a potentially perfect unknown.
@Jan C…
I know what you mean and here is the thought that helped me put things in perspective. (I borrowed it from Paul who said he put away childish things…)
A 5 year old boy loves to play with toy cars. They mean everything to him. The thought of losing one or having one taken away is devastating. Take that same boy at the age of 16 and something changes. He is given the keys to a REAL car and is able to take it for a spin down the road.
The days of playing with toy cars have been replaced with the real thing and they hold no luster because of that.
My thoughts are that God has given us these little bits of heaven (family and friends) as a display in small what heaven will be in large. That is hard to fathom… that our relationships there will be more perfected than they are now even though they will be different.
I, too, think heaven is beyond anything our imagination and our little brains can even try to comprehend. Because of this, most of us (I’d venture to say all of us,actually) are (if we’re being honest) a little, tid-bit reluctant to go. Change is a little scary for us humans to face and go through no matter if that change is for the better or for the worse. So of course, we all want to go to heaven but not right now…..it’s change.
@MPT…
Paul in the first chapter of Philippians is ready to go to heaven… but he struggles with it because of something here. His love for the church and, I have to assume, the love he had for preaching the gospel that others may know.
As a Christian, that is where I want to be. Caught between the desire of going to heaven and the kind of love that says, “Hey, I got to be here to love on you guys as long as I can.”
God is working on me in that area… maybe for the rest of my life.
It is SO much easier for me to just try to try to emulate Jesus (I’m not saying I succeed, but He was the ultimate role model) than to think about heaven, although I know heaven is a fundamental part of being a Christian.
Unlike so many of you who might like to climb Mt. Everest or sign up for a spaceship ride to Mars, I’m comfortable with my present reality. I think that’s why althoughI’ve been in the music business my whole life and have never done a drug. I don’t like the unknown.
I know the bible describes all the wonderful things about heaven and desiring to hang out with God and Jesus SHOULD be on my mind all the time….I kind of feel close to them here.
I love that heaven exists and I don’t fear death… unless of course, Kenny Chesney will be singing in heaven.
Well said Pete. It’s funny what heaven means to so many people. To the early slaves it was all they hoped and dreamed about. They sang about it in their spirituals because it meant there was a peace and rest after their struggle.
To some Christians today it represents their ultimate goal and destination. Some just try to stay as clean as they can on the bus ride there and can’t wait to finally arrive.
My perspective on the Kingdom has been radically changed in recent years as I’ve read and heard teaching on what it really means when we pray, “Thy kingdom come…on earth as it is in heaven.” The kingdom is so much more than something that we hope to attain in the sweet by-and-by. It’s living and powerful and is brought to earth every day through our words and actions.
Great post and discussion as always Pete.
A very good friend of mine and I had an awesome convo this past weekend over coffee about this same topic. We carried it a little further discussing the rapture, the Archangel Michael and how one day we will all be free of strife and those working hard everyday to take away o ur faith. What a day that will be!
I think we do desire Heaven.
I also think it is natural to want to live.
I think the response of wanting to wait on Heaven probably stems from our misunderstanding it and trying to equate it to the things and the pleasures here on Earth.
Maybe it stems from God not creating us to desire death, He created us to live, but to get to Heaven, we have to die. So, in that regards, it can wait.
What if I told you that you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, can have third heaven encounters right now…. before you die? I have several times, and He’s no respector of persons.
i understand the spiritual side of this post but i’m getting married in 61 days and he better not come back until at least 62 if you know what i mean
Yeah I think my brain is too limited to wrap my mind around heaven. I think even John had problems and he was allowed to see glimpses. He had to describe it with what he knew.
In theory (because I am not quite to this point) I think we desire heaven more the more we desire God here. The more we take time to spend with God maybe the more our heart grows closer to His. One example of a person who was able to really desire heaven because of his walk with God was Rich Mullins. Then again the guy wasn’t married and I think I read somewhere that married people will have divided interests. Not that we won’t get inklings of wanted to be home every now and then.
@Jewel, LOL!
I really enjoy this post…that’s how I think of Heaven…
Were you talking to Pastor Blake?! He and I were talking about in our meeting yesterday… an amazing re-calibration… still processing all of it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I was telling someone something like this yesterday. They were saying that they wonder if all ugliness is a result of sin, and I said that I think of it more in terms of things that are ugly/painful aren’t supposed to be that way and the fact that we recognize ugliness and pain is maybe an innate desire for heaven. Just the fact that we can see that something isn’t right, and like CS Lewis said that if we aren’t satisfied here on earth it must be because we’re made for another place.
I’m very excited to get to heaven – lately it’s been on my mind, too – this world is just such a pain-in-the-you-know-what.
But I know there’s much left for me to do…as with most of us. We probably don’t feel “ready” because God’s not done with us yet.
Also, I’m not ready to leave my boys… I’d like to see Bradley grow up and know that he would understand what’s going on before I left him behind. Odd thing though, I’ve always had the feeling that I will see him go to heaven before I do. But I still don’t want to leave my family behind…even temporarily.
Heaven sounds wonderful. Except, at this time in life, I can’t fathom leaving my kids and husband, or vice versa. And not only that, I still have to help “save” certain extended family members.
Anyhow, I’m not sure if I can adequately explain this, but the one thing that makes me sorta sad about dying is no longer having my family unit as it is here on earth. Does that make sense? I mean, being married and having that committed relationship with your spouse, right here and now…that will change in the afterlife, right? For instance, our spouse could die and we could possibly get married again. But really, what kind of relationship will each of you have once you are all in heaven? Or, does Jesus erase those feelings of marital love once we are no longer human beings? Sorry, I’m probably not explaining myself right! LOL.
Anyhow, have a great day. Stacy
Stacy – I’ve wondered that too – and the thought of not having that love makes me sad too. But I do trust that what we will have will be so much greater, even more-heartwarming…more fulfilling and best of all, permanent and eternal!
I think you are right. The concept of heaven is such an abstract one for so many people, and we just don’t know what to completely expect. There are days when I crave it (please take me now) and there are others when I say “I just want to do this and this and this before I go.”
@Stacy and @Paula, I wrestle with that sometimes too.
Honestly my issue has never been about going to heaven. My fear has always been how I was going to die to get there.
I’d agree with you; I desire heaven but I’m not ready yet and part of that is a bit of guilt that I’ve not done enough quite yet.
I have a lot of questions about heaven, for example, if there’s no sorrow in Heaven, no guilt, what would I feel about friends and family members that weren’t there? Would I remember them? Would I care?
If we are rewarded for the things done on earth, would there but such ugliness as comparison and jealousy? Would certain people be closer to God and if so, I can’t help but think I’d feel many emotions about that.
I always thought that by being in God’s glory and presence it would be impossible to sin, yet Adam and Eve sinned against God even though God walked among them in the Garden, and angels also feel even though they were in the presence of God, so what is to prevent us from sinning in Heaven?
Oops, I mistyped. I meant to write “i we are rewarded for the things done on earth, would there be such ugliness as comparison and jealousy?”
And at the end, I meant to write “and angels also fell” not feel! Sorry. Next to I’ll re-read before I post!
I have wondered about my motivation for heaven.
It’s only been in the past year that I’ve thought and prayed “PLEASE God just let me come home and be with you.” I felt courageous. Thinking that I’ve really grown in my faith to pray those words boldly. I just passed the 5 year mark with ALS.
Does our motivation really matter as long as our hearts desire is to be with him? I’ve told myself that’s all that mattered – the end result. Be with Him.
But is it really? And what if there was a cure? Would I still pray the same prayer?
This is an entry that’s been on my heart for a while. Does it matter to God why I want to be with him? Is my longing to be with him the same as Paul talked about in the following verses or am I just looking to somehow skip past the pain and agony of this disease. I really pondered this for a while and searched honestly within.
Paul’s attitude blows my mind.
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.
I believe departing and being with Christ is better – but is it only because of what I am facing? And when he speaks of it being more necessary to remain in the body, are my reasons for wanting to stay here the same as Paul’s? Is my motivation to stay so that I can share Jesus with more people? Or is my motivation because I want to spend more time here with my family?
I have a friend and her name is Elaine. She and her husband were at our house first thing Monday morning. As we all talked and shared, Elaine’s desire to be with God became apparent. She is an amazing person of faith. Evidently she’s said this for a while…….her hearts desire is truly to be home with God. She calls God “Father” in a beautiful and intimate way. To know Elaine, her desire is so consistent with her faith. And I cannot get that conversation off my mind. Shouldn’t my attitude be the same as Elaine’s? Without the devastation of ALS?
Oh………. the rest of the story. Elaine just found out Friday that she has a brain tumor. She meets with the surgeon this week. No matter what happens, she will be fine. Paul’s words could be her words – seriously.
In “The Visual Bible” Jesus is walking away as he speaks the last verses of Matthew. Every time I watch I am swept away by the emotion. As he is talking, He turns and beckons us with His arms. As if to say “come on. Go with me.” During that moment, my heart is saying “YEAH JESUS! I am ready to come with you now!” My prayer is to desire that always and not because I am afraid of this illness. I imagine myself skipping and running after Him. Arms wide open. Just like Elaine.
I love this post. And, yes, it’s funny that we tend to want to hold on to “here” and all it’s imperfection. It’s like being on a game show and seeing one prize that’s okay or going for the prize behind the curtain-you’re almost certain it’s better, but the not knowing can paralyze you to stay where you are. This post was an excellent reminder for me-thanks!
@Jill, WOW!
Pete,
Since Eric was killed 9 years ago, I have been so torn between wanting to go to heaven to be with him, but at the same time wanting to stay on earth to be with Kenneth & Justin. I guess when God gets ready for me He will take me home and not until then. He still has a purpose for my life on earth right now.
Pete:
The fact that we can’t fathom the depths of Gods love for us hardly allows room for us to develop a real thought on the magnitude of a place such that Jesus and many of the prophets describe for us in scripture. We are simply too captivated by the beauty of the nastiness of this world to really grasp the perfection of Heaven. But one day, bro….one day.
Over the course of the past year, largely due to some major trauma in my life, I have found myself with such an intense longing for Heaven. For so many reasons, but to also “escape” the hurt and torment that we feel so often here on earth. But moreso, to be with my Savior. To be with the One that will never ever fail me, Who loves me despite who I am, and who sees every tear that falls. He is the One that sees even more imperfection in me than those in my life (and my goodness, how much they see) yet loves me so much more.
I think the one thing that holds me back from fully wanting to be there is that if I went now, it would devastate my kids. I can’t handle that thought. I break down at the thought of them hurting at all, yet I am so thankful I know that God would heal their hearts and they would know I am with Him.
I just wish He would hurry up and come back so that wouldn’t be an issue.
.-= Melody´s last blog ..I talk a lot. To myself. *And prayer request!!* *UPDATED* =-.
With all this back pain keeping me up heaven sounds pretty good. Too bad it has to sound good only when I am in pain.
.-= David´s last blog ..Three Feet Away =-.
“memememememememememememememememememememememe
memememememememememememememememememememememe…oh…wait a minit… it is really ALL about YOU, isn’t it? Sorry God – i see it your way now!”
“Welcome to Heaven, My Son!”
It’s only after we TRULY ‘get’ that (live it)- we get IT!
it’s not about ‘me’, nor sex, nor our Kids, spouse or extended families, or friends, or the unbelievers.
All are in Him and it is to Him we will all ‘return’ when the time is appropriate and He Wills it to be so.
There is nothing to fear but losing all sense of Self-identity, because we are given a New and Much Greater one – In Him, who is in all things.
<B
.-= lovewillbringustogether´s last blog ..Help a Brother Out? =-.
I’m so surprised at the lack of response to my comment. lol
Well, praise God. hehehe
=-.
.-= kathryn east´s last blog ..kathryneast: is merrily waiting for Derek to come home…. I’m such a kid.
Pete: One of the most thought-provoking pieces I’ve read in a long time. (As a blog, or in print, or anywhere.) Very well done.
For Jessica, Jill, and others going through similar things – can I share an experience that happened to me 4 or 5 years ago? The friend in this story was a lady who at athat time was working with me as a guard at our local hospital. This is how I described what happened:
It’s wonderful to see prayers answered. But sometimes God doesn’t seem to. Then our faith is tested. We ask “Why? Is God there? Why doesn’t he do something?”
I asked those questions when I visited a friend who’d had two surgeries in three weeks. I’d prayed for her healing for a year, and had unmistakably felt God’s presence in those prayers. Yet her condition had steadily worsened.
As we talked, ‘Jona’ told me that when she woke from her first operation, a black-haired man with a mustache was sitting in her chair, legs crossed, arms clasped around his knees. She assumed he was one of the doctors. When she regained consciousness after her second surgery, the same man was sitting on her bed.
Finally she asked a friend who’d been in her room the entire time who he was. The lady replied “Jona, NO ONE’S been here!”
Yet Jona had seen him! Not once, but twice. Who had he been? Jesus? An angel? I didn’t know, but this time I left assured that God had heard our prayers. He’d chosen his own way to show her he loved her as his child. I didn’t need to analyze.
Best wishes to all of you.
Pete,
I think we have become so accustomed to our worldly pleasures that we can see, touch, and feel that we choose not to think about heaven. Thanks for the great reminder!
.-= Larry Johnson´s last blog ..Are You Sure? =-.
I love that quote by C.S. Lewis. I think lovewillbringustogether made a good point. It’s not about us. Jesus wants us to love him more than our spouse, more than our children, more than anyone. One of his disciples wanted to go and bury his father and Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead.” That may sound harsh, but Jesus wants us to give up everything for Him. If it weren’t for Him, we would be spending eternity with Satan, so it doesn’t seem too far fetched for us to give up everything for Him-even time on earth with our families. I’m not saying I am to that point yet…but I would really like to be.
@Larry Johnson, I know that’s one of my greatest challenges.
.-= pete wilson´s last blog ..Filling Up My Bucket =-.