Heaven Matters Now

“…And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:17b, NIV 2011).

As I was examining her husband, she sat there, uncharacteristically dour. Usually she was joking and laughing with her man and me. Cedric then told me, “You know she just lost her mother.”
She added, “And I haven’t yet got over losing my daughter two months ago.”
We chatted for a while about her losses and then again about her husband’s health.
As they were leaving, I mentioned again my sorrow for her and added, “You know, it won’t be long before we will all be together again with your mother and daughter. When I get there, I want you to introduce me to them.”
Her grin lit up the room with white teeth, “You got it, Doc,”

Some folks don’t think much of heaven, even religious folk.
“It’s now that matters, not some ‘pie in the sky by and by.’”
And, in truth, the most important moments of our lives are the “now” moments, where we live out the salvation that God provided for us on the cross.
But, these “now” moments must be lived in some context.
Is now all there is?
Is this life all there is?
In truth, what I do now is critically dependent on my understanding of life after now ends.
Heaven means that all I do now has eternal consequences.
Heaven means that those I lose, I will see again.
Heaven means that real justice is possible; therefore, it is good to do right, with the certain knowledge that right will be rewarded someday.
It is even good to suffer in showing love for others, for someday we will share heaven with the One who did the same for us.
Heaven is certainly a long way off for most of us, but our confidence in heaven matters vitally as we live in this world now.

Dear God,
Let me make choices now, and live in hope now, based on the truth of heaven.
Amen