Heaven Without Jesus

Have you ever read something that just made you groan because it convicted you so much of your ungrateful attitude toward God? The following quote by John Piper (in God is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself) surely caused an audible “oh no” from my lips as I read it:

"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 were not there?”

Does anyone else struggle with the answer to this?  Certainly the unbelieving world would affirm their acceptance of those conditions, but I’m afraid that even many believers might answer in the same way. Could it be possible that those of us who know the incredible price that was paid for our entrance into the Heavenly realm still leave communion with Christ out when we imagine what Heaven is really like? Do we concentrate more on our future experience of “...no more mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore” rather than fellowship with the One who made these promises possible? What is the real longing of our hearts when we contemplate an eternity of joy and bliss?

If we find ourselves content with Heaven without Christ, what should we do? We need to remember our first love. We need to remember the voice of the one who calls us His beloved, the one who rescued us because He delighted in us (Psalm 18).

Let’s look forward to delighting in Him when we reach Heaven.