It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This . . . Or Does It?

It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This . . . Or Does It?

Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

— 1 John 3:3, NASB

To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes.^a

— CHARLES H. SPURGEON

If a bride-to-be has a wedding date on her calendar, and she thinks daily of the person she’s going to marry and contemplates his qualities, then she shouldn’t be an easy target for seduction, should she?

When I meditate on Jesus and my future in Heaven, sin is unappealing. It’s when my mind drifts from that person and that place that sin seems attractive. Thinking of Heaven leads inevitably to pursuing holiness. Our high tolerance for sin testifies to our failure to prepare for Heaven.

Heaven should affect our activities and ambitions, our recreation and friendships, and the way we spend our money and time. If I believe I’ll spend eternity in a world of unending beauty and adventure, will I be content to spend all my evenings playing video games or staring at game shows, sitcoms, and ball games? Even if I keep my eyes away from impurities, how much time will I want to invest in what ultimately doesn’t matter?

When we realize the pleasures that await us in God’s presence, we can forgo lesser pleasures now. When we realize the possessions that await us in Heaven, we will gladly give away possessions on Earth to store up treasures in Heaven. When we realize the power offered to us as rulers in God’s Kingdom, a power we could not handle now but will handle with benevolence then, we can forgo the pursuit of power here.

Following Christ is a call not to abstain from gratification but (sometimes) to delay gratification. More to the point, it’s a call to pursue the gratification that will last. It’s finding our joy in Christ, rather than seeking joy in the things of this world. Heaven, the place of eternal gratification and fulfillment, should be our polestar, reminding us where we are and which direction we need to go.

To be Heaven-oriented is to be goal-oriented in the best sense. Paul says, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

Thinking of Heaven will motivate us to live each day in profound thankfulness to God: “Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28).

In Perelandra, C. S. Lewis’s protagonist says of his friend Ransom, recently returned from another planet, “A man who has been in another world does not come back unchanged.”^b A man who gives sustained thought to another world—the Heaven where Christ is and the resurrected Earth where we will live forever with him—also does not remain unchanged. He becomes a new person.

The most ordinary moment on the New Earth will be greater than the most perfect moments in this life—those experiences you wanted to bottle or hang on to but couldn’t. Nanci and I have spent some wonderful moments with our family and friends. At Christmas or on vacation, or simply after dinner in the family room, we’ve said those magic words: “It doesn’t get any better than this.” But it can get better, far better, than this—and it will.

Life on this earth now is like going out in the cold, dragging in the wood, or shoveling the coal, with periodic moments of deep satisfaction and times of distress and profound loss. Life on the New Earth will be like sitting in front of the fire with the ones we love, basking in the warmth, laughing outrageously, dreaming of the adventures to come—and then going out and living those adventures together. We’ll have no fear that life will ever end, that our God will abandon us, or that tragedy will descend like a dark cloud. We’ll have no fear that dreams will be shattered or relationships broken.

Do you ever feel you have passed your peak? That your best days are behind you, and what’s ahead is all in decline? If you know Jesus, you are not past your peak. In fact, the further you drop from your earthly peak, the closer you get to Heaven. Death is the doorway to see Christ, who has defeated death and will swallow it up. Therefore, paradoxically, to be headed toward death is to be headed in the right direction.

Understanding that our peak doesn’t come in this life should radically affect our view of deteriorating health. The elderly and disabled should recognize that their experiences on the New Earth will be far better than the best they have experienced on this earth under the Curse.

People without Christ can only look back to when they were at their best, and know they will never regain it. Memories are all they have, and even those memories are fading. But Christians don’t look back to the peak of their prowess. They look forward to it.

When we Christians sit in wheelchairs or lie in beds or feel our bodies shutting down, let’s remind ourselves, “I haven’t passed my peak. I haven’t yet come close to it. The strongest and healthiest I’ve ever felt is only a faint suggestion of what I will experience as a resurrected being on the New Earth.”

This isn’t wishful thinking. This is the explicit promise of God.

If the ideas presented in this book were merely the product of my imagination, they would be meaningless. But here’s what the apostle John recorded at the end of the Bible:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. . . . And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:1, 3-5)

These are the words of King Jesus. Count on them. Take them to the bank. Live every day in light of them. Make every choice in light of Christ’s certain promise.

We were all made for a person and a place. Jesus is the person. Heaven is the place.

If you know Jesus, we’ll be together in that resurrected world, with the Lord we love and with the friends we cherish. We’ll embark together on the ultimate adventure, in a spectacular new universe awaiting our exploration and dominion. Jesus will be the center of all things, and joy will be the air we breathe.

And just when we think, “It doesn’t get any better than this”— it will!

Whom could you comfort today with the thought that those who love Jesus will never pass their peaks? Why not call or visit or send a note today?

O God, infuse us with joy at the thought of being with you. Remind us of your promise of no more death or mourning or crying or pain. Remind us daily that you will wipe every tear from our eyes. Help us to find precious hope in your vow to make everything new and in your assurance that your words are trustworthy and true. Help us to trust you today, rehearsing your promise of a better world. Help us to know, even on our best of days, that it will get better than this. Far better. And you, all-knowing and all-powerful God, will see to it that the far better world will never end.