Ready for Heaven, Not Rushed to Leave Earth
How do we balance living the life God called us to while living in a place that is not our home?
What is the one thing we can do on earth to worship God, that we can’t do in Heaven?
We should be ready to go to Heaven at any time, but not in a rush to get there.
Ready means we know that being in Christ’s presence is better, we are not afraid, and we do not live with a mindset of pushing off Heaven for later.
Not Rushed means we recognize that God has valuable work for us to do here and that we have a unique opportunity to worship God while temptation is still present on earth.
To Live is Christ, and to Die is Gain
Paul described his own feelings about this in Philippians 1:21-27 where he begins with,
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Ready: To Die Is Gain
Can we say that of ourselves? Would we consider it a gain if we died?
If so, we are fully recognizing that our eternal home is in Heaven, and we are just passing through on earth. If you are missing this feeling, then this is the most important thing to consider in this whole topic. That confidence comes from knowing you have received the gift of Jesus Himself that He offers to each person.
Receiving that gift requires that we turn from making ourselves “lord of our life” and turn to Jesus, making Him “Lord of our life.” His death and resurrection atoned for our sin, but we need to step into that covenant relationship with Him.
Once that is your status, your home has moved to Heaven. You are an eternal being with an earthly body. Your perspective on dying changes. Death becomes a transition to live as God intended us to be in a complete relationship for eternity with Him.
This does not mean we love or focus on our physical death. It means that our spiritual perspective grows to the point where we can lose the fear of physical death. When you get this mindset, you too can say “to die is gain!”
Not Rushed: For me to live is Christ
We are to live on earth in a way that allows the Holy Spirit to do the work He has planned for us. In Phil 1:22 Paul says, “If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.” He goes on to say in verse 25, “I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith.”
God has placed us on earth for a purpose and often that is to lift others up and point them to a closer relationship with Jesus. When we are living under the direction of the Holy Spirit, we will produce fruitful labor. Sometimes we will see the results. Other times we are simply one piece in a bigger picture that we will not fully understand.
From Longing for Earth to Longing for Heaven
As Christians, even while we want to be useful on earth, we can become attached to the life we have here. We shouldn’t just make the most of our time here for ourselves. Not only is this a selfish perspective, it is also poor reasoning.
Paul says in verse 23, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”
Once we recognize how much better Heaven is, we will start to feel this longing too.
The Earth is Full of Evil
As we mature in Christ, we will see more and more that this earth is full of sin at every turn.
The Bible goes even further. 1 John 5:19 says, “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” Jesus calls Satan the ruler and prince of this world in John chapters 12, 14, and 16. We see in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that Paul acknowledges the “god of this world” as well.
The earth is not our home. It is the Devil’s home. When we see the earth in its present fallen condition and the evil surrounding us, we will feel a natural pull toward Heaven.
This statement does not mean that everything on earth is bad. God created the earth and He said that His creation was good.
God’s Goodness on Earth is Only a Glimpse
We can still see God’s goodness on earth. From beautiful sunrises to majestic mountains to a tender word from a friend when we are sad. All of these give us pictures of God’s goodness. For me, this can create a bucket-list mindset of things I want to experience before I get to Heaven. While it is good to enjoy God’s goodness on earth, we don’t want to develop a mindset of delaying Heaven until we have experienced everything we want here.
The experiences we receive on earth are small glimpses of the complete and full presence of God. Imagine what Heaven will be like when we are in the full presence of God with the evil removed. As Paul says, “that is far better.”
The Pull and a Better Way
Paul expressed the pull between longing to be in the full presence of God and knowing there is work to be done.
“Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two.”
While a mature Christian should feel the pull in both directions, but we do not need to live constantly “hard pressed” and struggling in our minds. I want to encourage you that there is a better way: to live comfortably in both.
Paul recognized this. In verse 25, he says “Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you.”
A Healthy Spiritual Perspective
First, be ready to go to Heaven and look forward to it.
Second, do not try to rush God into completing His work in you on earth.
The Worship We Can Only Offer Now
There is a unique thing Christians can do on earth that we cannot do in Heaven.
We can choose to love God while we still have the option not to.
Jesus quoted the Old Testament when He taught that the greatest commandment is to love God, and the second is to love our neighbor. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.” Jesus also quoted Leviticus 19:18 when He said, “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love is the greatest commandment, and we see it across the Old and New Testament. Love is choosing the good of another when you have the option to not to choose it.
You must have that choice
We have that choice now. Every day on earth, Christians choose whether to submit to God or pursue our own desires.
That is what makes love so meaningful. Love is a free-will gift we can offer to God, not something He forces or takes from us.
But we can only give Him love in this way from the time we become Christians until the time we die.
Once we are in Heaven, there will be no sin or option to not love. We will worship and praise Him for all eternity, but the window to love, when we have other options, will be closed.
Temptations and Trials Are an Opportunity for Worship
The same evil that makes us long for Heaven also creates a setting where our love for God can be shown. The temptations, trials, and difficulties on earth give us the opportunity to choose whether the things of this earth provide what we need, or whether God provides it.
That is why God put the tree in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had to have the choice to reject or else they could not have chosen to obey.
Even Satan himself falls within God’s sovereign plan. This picture is clearly shown in the book of Job when Satan asks God to take away Job’s earthly blessings. God allows it to demonstrate that worship is not based on earthly rewards, but on spiritual obedience to Him.
We all struggle with resisting temptation. The same recognition of evil that can cause us to long for Heaven becomes an opportunity to turn from evil and turn toward God.
This perspective that every temptation we receive from the devil is an opportunity to turn from it and worship God will bring a major shift in our minds. We begin to recognize that temptation is simply an option to choose something worse than what God is offering.
This is how and why we can rejoice in suffering and trust that God works all things for good.
For all eternity those who chose God will praise Him. But right now, we have the free-will chance to give God love when we have the choice to not give it to Him.
Jesus Chose Love First
Before we chose God in the face of temptation, Jesus showed us the way. During satan’s temptation of Jesus, we see Jesus decline the earthly options in favor of the spiritual ones.
In the wilderness, Jesus chose the Father over the offers of the earth. At the cross, He chose love for us over his life.
When He said no one takes my life, I lay it down in John 10:17 and 18, Jesus’ decision to die was a choice He could have avoided. He prayed for another option in the garden, but when the only alternative was to turn away from the Father’s will (Luke 22:42-45), He walked willingly to the cross for us.
Ready, Not Rushed
For all eternity, we will praise God with no sin and no devil. But during this brief life on earth, we have the opportunity to look at temptation, suffering, fear, and the offers of the world, and choose to love God instead.
We are ready for Heaven because “to die is gain.”
We are not rushed because “to live is Christ.”
Until He brings to our eternal home, this life is an opportunity for fruitful labor for others and free-will worship toward God. Do not waste this time.
