Heart for Heaven

Pastor Gary Oser

This month I want to share one last question from Donald Whitney’s book, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health. The question is: “Do you yearn for Heaven and to be with Jesus?”

If you have ever been on a long trip in which you have been away from home for a long time, you know how much you look forward to being home again. As Christians, the time we spend on earth is like a long trip away from home with our ultimate destination being Heaven. Are we more interested in the few years we live here on earth or in being with Jesus in Heaven at last?

We can long for Heaven for the wrong reasons. Some people long for Heaven just to be free from the problems of this world. Some people long for Heaven just to be free from bodies which are wearing out. Still others look forward to Heaven to be reunited with loved ones who have gone before.

Spiritually healthy Christians long for Heaven because they know that in Heaven they will at last be free from sin and in the presence of the One who suffered and died to pay the price for their sin. They will be in the presence of Jesus, God Himself.

Great pastor and commentator of days past, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, well said,

“The Christian has a positive desire for Heaven, and therefore I ask: Do you look forward to being in Heaven? But, more than this, what do we look forward to when we get to Heaven? What is it we are desiring? Is it the rest of Heaven? Is it to be free from trials and tribulations? Is it the peace of Heaven? Is it the joy of Heaven? All of those things are to be found there, thank God; but that is not the thing we look forward to in Heaven. It is the face of God…to stand in the very presence of God—’to gaze and gaze on Thee.’ Do we long for that? Is that Heaven to us? Is that the thing we want above everything else?” (from Faith Tried and Triumphant, p. 199)

Spiritually healthy Christians understand that this present world is not their home and therefore refuse to hold tightly to the things of this present world. They have a deep aching in their hearts to be with Jesus and to worship and enjoy Him forever.

I hope that through the questions I have asked in these posts, you have seen things that can be corrected and adjusted so you can better enjoy spiritual health in the days ahead.