IS HEAVEN A CONSOLATION PRIZE?

IS HEAVEN A CONSOLATION PRIZE?

How many variations on this theme have you heard: “Poor John (or Nancy or Dad or Grandma, etc.).  Their life was cut short.  They died too soon.  But, of course, they’ve  gone to a better place.”  Is that what heaven is — a consolation prize?

Is heaven simply a place to retire to, after we’ve sucked all the good out of this life?  Or, is it something so wonderful that it’s beyond description? Paul knew something of heaven.  God graciously gave him a little peek.  Later he said, “whether in the Spirit or bodily, I know not”–and reported that human words could never describe it.

And what was his reaction to that experience?  He was torn between his desire to go and his desire to stay.  But his desire to stay wasn’t because life was so great and offered so much here on earth.  For himself, he yearned for paradise; but for the sake of those who needed his spiritual influence he felt he should linger on earth.

There is an inborn fear of death in us.  But we need to recognize and acknowledge that it arises from our old natures that needs to be resisted and defeated by faith.  For the Christian, death lost its “sting,”  Paul reminds us, for “the sting of death is sin.”  If we are right with God, then our sins are covered and the “stinger” has been removed.

If our heavenly Father is truly the sovereign God we claim, then we must understand that no one dies “prematurely.”  Whether we linger for a century, or pass on in the prime of life, God knew all about us long, long ago, and planned our lives to suit His will.  The issue is whether we are willing to cast ourselves truly into our Father’s hands: ready to go or ready to stay, moment by moment, according as He wills.

Heaven a consolation prize?  NOT!  At least, it’s certainly not Christian thinking.  There are a great many things I don’t know about heaven; but the one thing I do know is all I really need to know.  Jesus is there, and, “Oh, I want to see Him, look upon His face, there to sing forever of His saving grace.”

Now, that’s heaven!

That’s my view of things.