What Difference Does A Future Heaven Make In My Life Today?

In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
–John 14:2

A few years ago, I went on a one-week trip to London. It was a somewhat unfamiliar place to me, and I needed to make certain preparations. I needed to stop the newspaper and mail delivery, make sure my cell phone would work in the country that I was going to, and change some of my currency from dollars into pounds. Most of all, I needed to make sure I had a passport so that once I arrived, I would be allowed into the country.

Did you know the Bible tells us that every one of us is one day going to make a trip to a distant country? It is a one-way trip to a place that is mostly unfamiliar to us. And this destination is not just a one-week stay; it is going to be an eternal destination for every one of us. For those of us who are Christians, that trip is to a place called Heaven.

It is amazing to me how few Christians even think about Heaven. I think I understand why, though. The overwhelming responsibilities of this life sometimes eclipse our thinking about the next life. Not only that, Heaven seems remote. It seems irrelevant to those of us trying to rear a family, keep a job, or make a living here on earth. Why should we be concerned about Heaven?

Though we do not think about Heaven that much, there are times when we long for a better place than earth, aren’t there? Whether it is a betrayal by a close friend, an illness, the loss of a loved one, or the breakup of an important relationship, sometimes we experience a disappointment in this life that makes us long for something better. Philip Yancey wrote, “The Bible never belittles human disappointment . . . but it does add one key word: temporary. What we feel now, we will not always feel. Our disappointment is itself a sign, an aching, a hunger for something better. And faith is, in the end, a kind of homesickness–for a home we have never visited but have never once stopped longing for.”

We all long for that place called Heaven. And contrary to what some people believe, Heaven is not just some fanciful myth to help dull the pain of the reality of this world. The Bible says Heaven is a real place. In fact, Jesus assured us that Heaven is a real place. Jesus said to His disciples, “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). Jesus is in Heaven right now, and He is overseeing the largest construction project in all of history. He is building our future home in this place He calls Heaven.

Today’s devotion is excerpted from “What Difference Does A Future Heaven Make In My Life Today?” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2016.

Philip Yancey, “Disappointment With God” (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 276.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.