Would You Want To Be In Heaven If Jesus Weren’t There?

Would You Want to Be in Heaven if Jesus Weren’t There?

Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

Psalm 73:25-26

Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.

Philippians 3:8

LORD, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing.

Psalm 16:5

Lots of people look forward to heaven. They want to see people they love who have died. They don’t want to have any more pain. They want to live in a place where the struggles of life are over. But for many people, if they’re honest, seeing Jesus in heaven is optional. Since they don’t really know him and they haven’t really come to love him and value him, they have no particular longing to be with him for eternity.

It’s a little bit like someone offering you the use of his or her vacation home for the week, and then telling you later that the owner is going to be there too. Your response to the second piece of news indicates if you have genuine affection for the owner or if you are just glad to be on the receiving end of the stuff he or she is handing out.

Before Jesus went to the cross, he prayed for all the people who would believe in him. Jesus knew just what to pray for us; he knew exactly what we’d need. So he prayed, “Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!” (John 17:24). Jesus wants us to experience what we were made for—to see him and know him as he truly is. Jesus wants us to see how much God loves him and what makes him worthy of that love and honor. In heaven we’ll be filled with joy and surrounded by everything good. But without Jesus, heaven just wouldn’t be heaven.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

When you think about heaven, what are some of the things you look forward to?

What longings do you think Jesus will fulfill in heaven?

How can we nurture our longing for being with Jesus in heaven?