What Life Looks Like When We Forget Heaven
A potentially "unhinged" set of reflections on heavenly-mindedness
I have a deep fear that few Christians think of Heaven. The Beatific Vision (1 John 3:2) is rarely beheld in our thoughts today. When is the last time you heard it mentioned in a sermon? Or whenever it was the main topic of a sermon?
The infinite beauty and boundless glory of Heaven is kept out of many Christian books. Worldliness is promoted although condemned in Scripture (1 John 2:15-17).
We have so neglected Colossians 3:1-4 that we have almost become like Thomas Jefferson and cut that portion out of Scripture: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
I think it is worth us reflecting on some questions:
Will you spend so little time preparing for Heaven and so much time loving the world?
Will you spend so little time in prayer and so much more in staring at people online?
Men: Will you let shows, movies, videos, and games so distract your family from their ultimate purpose in Christ?
Will we hold out Christianity like its best life is on this earth? And Heaven be an after-thought?
Will we so misconstrue the mission of the church by thinking we must win people to an earthly kingdom rather than a heavenly kingdom?
Will we, of all people, be so lazy with the things of God and so active with the things of the world?
Will we have so little zeal for evangelism, missions, and discipleship?
Will we cherish earthly justice more than heavenly justice?
Will we put more effort into gathering people in this life or for the next life?
Will we continue to promote more of the desire for belonging here or for belonging there?
Will we really continue to have such casual preaching when Heaven is at stake? Will preachers really continue to have such a complacency during their preaching that they appear more satisfied with a life on earth than a life in Heaven?
Will we continue to tell people that they ought to prioritize becoming their best selves in this life rather than in the next? Will we really point people back to the idolatry of self rather than showing them that Christ is far better than they are?
Will we continue to psychologize and explain people’s sins away rather than pointing them to Jesus who is the only Savior of sinners? Will we really redefine our terms and definitions about sin, wrath, and guilt so as to give people a peace of mind in this life and make them comfortable going to hell?
Will the public means of grace be so neglected when it is what God has sovereignly ordained for you to know Him and prepare for Heaven? Can it really match up with the Christian life?
Imagine a “bride-to-be” so neglecting her “groom-to-be” during the engagement phase where people close to her were asking if she was dating someone or single. Imagine if she was flirting with other men and giving them more attention than her future groom. Is this not what we are doing with our worldliness and bare minimum attention to Jesus?
Will we really make the Christian life look more about being casual with Jesus and finding success in work, art, cultural contextualization more the goal? I don’t think a single saint in heaven will say that they ever regret attending the public means of grace or that they did so too much. I think they will say that they did so too little. That even in the greatest periods of revival—foretaste of heaven on earth—they were still nothing compared to the ultimate delight in Christ.
Will we promote a goal for Christians to “be kind” and yet let that definition of kindness never bring us to the point of telling them they must believe in Jesus in order to be saved?
Will we really promote political candidates as more worthy of putting our hope in than the only Sovereign and Wise King? Will we really be more happy with seeing America become “great again” rather than Heaven increase with saved sinners?
Are we more satisfied with people having “equal representation” in this life than we are with people being represented by Christ in Heaven?
Will we really lack a moral backbone so as to not speak up in the face of hellish wickedness because we actually just want the world to like us? Will we so hold tightly to our lives here and so loosely to our lives in Heaven? Do we desire more people to be comfortable in this life rather than the next?
Do we live like Heaven is actually for real? Or do we just get excited whenever someone has a non-biblical “vision” of “heaven” to remind us that there might be something nice after this life for those who express a general liking of a semi-divine Jesus who is kind?
Once again, the unfortunate part is that some will respond with comments like this:
Aren’t we supposed to be faithful in our vocations here on earth?
Aren’t we supposed to be kind to people now? We shouldn’t preach fire and brimstone sermons!
We aren’t supposed to be “too heavenly minded” so that we become no earthly good.
This sounds like a preacher just wanting to build his platform.
This is a bunch of legalism that is telling people that they better do more of the salvation is doubted.
But didn’t Jesus tell us to seek the welfare of the city?
Even when other Scripture portions are quoted about how Christians should live in the world before their time in Heaven, it is unfortunate that often these objections are brought up to disguise the idolatry of worldliness rather than genuinely seeking ways to live on earth with a heavenly-mindedness.
If Revival Happened…
While we must pray for it—for when is it a better time than now to pray for it?—I think that when revival happens it will so shock the majority of genuine Christians that many of them will think that with the renewed desire to know God that they might have never been Christians before. This is not necessarily true but during times of revival there is such a renewed desire for attending the public means of grace so we can know God more that people will see the contrast in their life and potentially have these conclusions.
While many people who merely outwardly profess Jesus will become genuine believers during revival, it will also be true that those who have been born again, but who have lived with such idolatry of the world and low desire for the means of grace, will experience such a joy in Christ where they might very well be tempted to think they were not a Christian before this season of newfound joy.
At the same time, if God has given us heavenly-mindedness, let us repent of our own judgmentalism in thinking that people need to “be like us”. The only way anyone has developed a biblical approach to heavenly-mindedness is by the sovereign free grace of God. We, because of our own sinful and idolatrous hearts, would be worldly and wicked in worshiping this world unless it were for the grace of God.
As God has graciously given any of us a healthy heavenly-mindedness, let us pray that He would pour out His Spirit upon us in rich mercy in order to revive Christians today. We deserve the opposite but Christ has died so that we might fixed our eyes upon Him!