Word of Encouragement (5/23/2020)

We’ve been reflecting on faith as heavenly-mindedness. At this point, it is only right that we think about what our attitude toward heaven is. How much we grow in this heavenly-mindedness has a lot to do with what we think of heaven.

Of course, heaven epitomizes everything that is good and lasting. Who wouldn’t want to be in heaven, especially if the only other option is hell? But our relationship with heaven is a little more complicated as my experience shows. When I first became a Christian at the age of sixteen, I was introduced to the idea of grace and free forgiveness of sin for the first time. When I understood the gospel (in a very minimal and simple way), the sense of relief I felt from the fear of being exposed and punished was so liberating. Oh, how thankful I was! Feeling so clean and loved, my heart overflowed with joy and love. And the promise that, along with divine forgiveness, I would receive eternal life filled my heart with wonder and awe.

But I have to admit that I was not so thrilled about going to heaven any time soon. Because of a very limited understanding of the gospel, I wasn’t sure I’d make it to heaven if I died any time soon. I felt I wasn’t good enough yet as I struggled with my sins and insecurity. I believed in Jesus but I wasn’t sure whether my faith was good enough. I called Jesus my Savior but I thought and acted like my faith was what would save me in the end—if my faith was good enough. One way to express my thinking at that time is this: instead of simply believing in Jesus, I believed in my faith in Jesus. So, I was afraid to die—afraid because I wasn’t so confident about my faith, afraid because death seemed scary, afraid because I still wanted to do a lot of things before I died. Obviously, going to heaven was not one of my top priorities at that time.

I’m sure I wasn’t alone. Many people want to believe in Jesus at the very last moment when they are too old or too sick to go on living, after they enjoy what this world has to offer as much as possible, etc. We know deep inside that something is not quite right with such an attitude. Vos shows how that is so by pointing out an important characteristic of heavenly-mindedness:

“…it is not essentially negative but positive in character. The core lies not in what it relinquishes but in what it seeks. Escape from the world here below and avoidance of the evil in the world do not furnish its primary motive. That is true only of the abnormal, morbid type of other-worldliness, that connected with pessimism and monastic seclusion…. If heavenly-mindedness were an upward flight in the ignominious sense of the word, it would be the very opposite to the heroism of genuine faith, a seeking for a harbour of refuge, instead of a steering for the haven of home.”

Heaven is too good to be just a place to escape from the miseries of this world, a place we want to go only after we are done enjoying this life. Vos says, “[Heaven] is not something first brought into the religious mind through sin…. By God himself this traveller’s unrest was implanted in the soul [even before the Fall].” Heaven was man’s intended final destination from the moment of his creation. “In heaven are the supreme realities; what surrounds us here below is a copy and shadow of the celestial things.” Whatever good things we will miss here is in heaven in perfection and fullness. By living in poverty or dying early, we are not missing out on anything if we are welcomed into heaven by God. Think about Jesus’ parable about Lazarus, the beggar, and the rich man. May the Lord increase our appreciation for heaven so that we sincerely desire to have heavenly-mindedness while we journey through this world!

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