Why Are You Looking Forward To Heaven?

Why are you looking forward to heaven? Really another question needs to be asked before that one; why did you get saved? The answer to the last question ranges depending on who you are talking to. I have heard answers such as; I wanted my guilt removed, I wanted to be forgiven, I did not want to go to hell, I wanted to be with my family members that have gone to heaven before me, and I want to go to heaven myself. But are all these answers valid? Is there one right answer to this question from someone who has truly been born again? The answer is, “YES”!

In 2 Corinthians 4:6 Paul states that the gospel is the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. As John Piper states, “the highest, best, final, decisive good of the gospel, without which no other gifts would be good, is the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ revealed for our everlasting enjoyment”. What Paul and Piper are saying is simply this; God is the Gospel. There is no gift Jesus can give that is greater than Himself; not forgiveness, not righteousness, not the removal of guilt, not the missing of hell, not the gift of heaven, none of them are greater than God Himself. In fact, those gifts such as forgiveness, righteousness, the removal of the wrath of God, are there to get everything out of the way so we get the greatest gift-God.

I agree with Piper when he states that, the critical question for our generation-and for every generation-is this: if you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?

The answer for the true born-again believer is a resounding, “No”! Christ is our greatest treasure and our most valued gift. He is not a means to an end, He is the end. The answer to our two questions are the same. Why do you get saved? Why are you looking forward to heaven? Jesus Christ. If you answer those questions in any other way, then you have never truly met the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

For more information on this topic please refer to John Piper’s book God is the Gospel.

The Impact of C.S. Lewis On My Life

We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labour is to remember, to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to
remain awake. -C.S. Lewis


I laid in bed as my mom told me that she had a new book she wanted to read me. As an eight year old boy I was not excited about reading for myself, but was okay with my mom reading to me (it at least let me stay up a little bit longer). It started simple enough...Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. Little did I know that this book would turn out to be one in a series of seven that my mom read to me over the next year.

The Chronicles of Narnia was my introduction to Clive Staples Lewis, an English professor from England who was one of the greatest Christian minds in the last century. Over the last
twenty-two years I have read most of what Lewis has written and I can say without a doubt he has had the greatest impact on me over any other author I have read. He sees God everywhere; in places that the average person does not see Him, but where He nevertheless dwells.

The thing that I love about Lewis is his ability to explain and defend the Christian faith in a way that children can understand and theologians stand in silence. I have tried to model this element of his life in my own. I want to be the kind of the student of the Word that can sit down with little kids and explain the great Biblical truths that can change their life, and also be able to sit down with theologians and discuss the complexities of Christianity.

I so believe in his insight and wisdom that our student ministry is about to begin our second study on the Chronicles of Narnia on Wednesday nights. It is a great tool to be able to have these beautiful illustrations of God's beautiful truths.

I would encourage anyone and everyone to read the writings of C.S. Lewis. I trust that you will be moved and challenged much like I have been. Who knew that a story about a talking Lion would mean so much to a eight years old's life.