Heaven and Our Limited Imaginations

I once heard someone voice this question: “Is it sinful to be anxious about heaven coming when there are still good things I had hoped to enjoy first here on earth?” Usually, the questioner is thinking of (unrealized) pleasures such as marriage, children, grandchildren, etc. It’s a good and fair question. Furthermore, I would assert it is not necessarily borne out of sin. In fact, the mere fact that someone is even being honest and humble to ask the question tells me this question does not fit into the category of sin-based struggles.

First, it’s a good question because heaven will not contain marriage or any of its earthly benefits. Jesus himself said, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” (Matt. 22:30) God designed marriage to serve a host of wonderful purposes (i.e., a living picture of Jesus’s heart for the church, procreation, sexual pleasure, growth in character, a more stable and flourishing society, etc.), but these purposes do not terminate on themselves; their overarching purpose is to point beyond themselves. So they are relegated to life on this side of heaven.

Second, I said this anxiety about missing out on earthly pleasures in heaven is not necessarily a sinful one. It could be, if the person has no affection and hunger for God and is asking the question because they fundamentally love the things of this world more than God himself. But this kind of person likely is not experiencing much agony or internal angst over this question. They have become calloused.

It is more likely that this person is suffering this anxiety not because of sin, but because of weakness and limitation. What do I mean? Think about it. Certain biblical promises do help us to long for heaven. For example, Ps. 63:5 says, “You satisfy me more than the richest feast.” David could likely imagine a rich feast; he acknowledges God can satisfy him beyond those imaginings. In addition, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9) But that promise is two-sided. Yes, heaven will be great beyond imagination. But that’s just the point – I can’t imagine it! This thing that is going to be glorious beyond belief is also suspended above my ability to fully latch onto it with my mind. Meanwhile, these other things (life, marriage, family, job, etc.) are not nearly as good, but they are close enough that I can comprehend their goodness better. The good-but-not-best goodness and wonder and beauty that I can grasp suddenly starts to look better than the unsurpassed goodness and wonder and beauty that I know about from a distance but have not yet experienced. Now we realize how the coming of the latter could be seen as a “threat” to the former.

Imagine a five-year-old playing in a kiddie pool in the backyard. To him, nothing is better. He’s in water, he gets to splash, he gets to run around in just shorts, and he can play with his toys in the water. He’s become familiar with that little body of water because it’s a tangible part of his experience. Now imagine his parent telling him one morning, “Hey buddy, no kiddie pool today. We’re going to drive to the beach!” If this kid has never been to the beach, what sounds like good news to you and me might result in pure disappointment to him. He’s never been there. Sure, the parent knows that their child will be mesmerized once he gets there. But that doesn’t change the fact that in the present, this child does not want to lose the good thing that he is familiar with.

Our original question is a little bit like this scenario with the child and the pool. The child’s sadness and uncertainty are not so much a by-product of sin as much as it is a by-product of their lack of experience and informed imagination. The child is really going to have to trust the parent’s character and words, but this will take some work. A good parent has pity and understanding for this struggle, not impatience and anger more fitting for high-handed disobedience.

One last thought. If Christ does return before we get to experience or enjoy (fill in the blank), that is ok. God is the author of our lives. To run with the analogy of authorship, God is the one who writes our narrative. Nothing can touch us unless he wills it. We tend to think that our narrative or story will be complete if we can just first do (fill in the blank). But we are a character in the middle of the story; we are not the author. We don’t know how the book will end. We only understand some of what has taken place up to this point. Frodo did not know he would make it to Mount Doom to destroy the ring. Susan and Lucy did not know that Aslan would rise from the dead. Job had no idea that God would restore his fortunes, nor did he know what was taking place behind the scenes in the court of heaven. The Author of our lives will make the ending of our story good beyond our wildest dreams, even if our part comes to an end in this life sooner or differently than we had envisioned.