What is your favorite thing? Is there something that you love more than anything else on earth?
I have from time to time heard people say, “I hope there is beer in Heaven, because if there is not, I’m not sure I want to go.” It is not just beer, but golf, video games, pets, etc. The little kid who asks if his dog will be in Heaven, the teen who wouldn’t want to go to Heaven if there was no technology, the married man that wouldn’t want to go to Heaven without golf or hunting and fishing, and the old person that wouldn’t want to go if there wasn’t a Bridge Club. I’ve heard things like this a surprising amount. Is there something in your life that you couldn’t go to Heaven without?
What really shocks me is that these people don’t seem to realize is that they are completely breaking the First Commandment! I mean what could possibly be better than God? Who will have time in all of eternity to break away from God for a round of golf? Who will want to leave His presence to go grab a beer? The whole issue with this is that if you don’t want to be in Heaven, God won’t make you. But if you do go to Heaven, you won’t need anything but God.
On a similar note, what about those people who put their spouse/significant other in this spot? I love my wife more than any other person on earth and yet when faced with this question I’m for a moment torn. On one hand, eternity without her would not be perfect. However, upon further thought, I firmly believe that a big part of my Mission is to get my wife and kids to Heaven, so if somehow I don’t help her to get there, then I probably won’t be in Heaven either. Not that I doubt God’s mercy, it’s just that He sent us here for a reason – we’d better do it!
Just one more thought on that – Heaven will be so much greater than we can imagine. Try to imagine the best feeling you can think of. Maybe it is being with someone in a new relationship, holding hands, eating chocolate ice cream, looking at the stars, on a warm summer evening, while your favorite song is playing. Not that that would be the best feeling ever, I just know that most of those things cause our bodies to release chemicals that make us feel good. Whatever it is, multiply that by infinity and you have your worst day in Heaven. Trust me, Heaven doesn’t need beer or golf or video games or the internet or ice cream or hand holding or pets or sports or even Bridge. After all – if we manage to get to Heaven, it will have the thing that is truly most important to us… Because if God isn’t number 1, we might just be left with whatever was number 1 for us and isn’t that a scary thought?
And now, I'm back to my mission...
