Thinking About Heaven

I’ve been thinking a lot about heaven lately. Knowing that I have a terminal illness affects my thinking although I try not to dwell on it. I pray everyday that if it’s in God’s plan to heal me supernaturally He will, but I trust His will for my life. Trusting the Lord demands that we yield to His sovereign will.

One of the best books I have read recently is Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven by Dr. David Jeremiah. In this book he addresses many questions people have about heaven and posits some provocative ideas about what heaven might be like, and backs this all up with a lot of Scripture. I highly recommend this book.

It is obvious to me that the overwhelming hope of Christ-followers is to go to heaven (I’ve never met one who didn’t want to go, just not TODAY). You’ve probably heard the story of a Sunday School teacher who asked her class to raise their hand if they wanted to go to heaven. Everyone but little Jimmy raised their hand. “Jimmy, don’t you want to go to heaven?” she asked, to which Jimmy responded, “I do, but I thought you were planning a trip right now.”

Many of the hymns and worship songs we sing relate to heaven. New Testament scriptures overwhelmingly point to our journey from here to….Heaven! Conscientious preachers will grasp their responsibility to remind us, their listeners, of God’s grace and mercy and to explain how we are to navigate this journey to heaven: by being certain of our salvation, by encouraging us to be involved in discipleship, by calling us to holy living, and by warning us against the dangers of worldliness. 

We are all on an amazing journey. This world is not our home, we’re just passing through. I was water baptized at Rex Humbard’s Cathedral of Tomorrow in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, when I was 12 years old. It was a momentous occasion that I will never forget. After the baptismal part of the service, the Cathedral Quartet sang a song and dedicated it to our family, mentioning that I was among those who were baptized. The song they sang was a signature song of the Happy Goodman Family. These are some of the words:

“I wouldn’t take nothin’ for my journey now, gotta make it to heaven somehow, though the devil tempt me and he tried to turn me around. He’s offered everything that’s got a name, all the wealth I want and worldly fame, if I could still I wouldn’t take nothin’ for my journey now.”

Sixty years have passed since that Sunday night service. A lot of living has since taken place. A lot of mistakes have been made and hopefully some successes have occurred. During my 50 years of ministry I never sought wealth or fame. I only wanted to be faithful. Now as I cope with the struggles as a result of radical surgery, the effects of chemotherapy and mobility issues, I do think of heaven more now, and even perhaps differently than I used to, and despite all, I can honestly say that “I wouldn’t take nothin’ for my journey now!”