News Health: How do you envision Heaven?

Happy Sunday,

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

John 14:2-3 (NIV)

How do you envision Heaven?

In the opening chapter of his book, Heaven, Randy Alcorn shares a story of a pastor confessing his dread of spending eternity in Heaven. “I can’t stand the thought of that endless tedium. To float around in the clouds with nothing to do but strum a harp… it’s all so terribly boring.”

That fits the picture I had of Heaven growing up: me, as an angel, stuck floating in an eternal church service with a harp I didn’t know how to play. It was in the clouds, and in the distance was a big golden gate with a loooong line outside; cartoon St. Peter was checking people’s names off a big list that looked suspiciously like he stole it from cartoon Santa Claus. 

I had to remind myself I would be happy, because nothing about the vision inherently made me happy.

Here’s the good news… after just a little bit of studying, I can conclusively say that that is not Heaven. Spending time focusing on Heaven has also helped me see Earth’s headlines with more peace, energy, and clarity, and created a deep longing in my heart.

The trouble is, my default mental picture is still of boring cartoon Heaven. So, I’m going to do more studying.

If you have questions about Heaven, let me know—they’ll help guide my research. Also, if you picture something other than a cartoon version of Heaven in your head, I’d love for you to share that with me, too!

Thanks,
Jason

P.S. Reminder that I do read all the replies I get to this email, but only respond to a few.

Recommended: I frequently advocate for simply spending more time with Jesus, focusing on quantity time (quality will follow). One way I do that is with Dwell, the best audio Bible app I've found.

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