Loretta Lynn sang, "Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die." Ain't it the truth? Well ... almost. Most people ... and every Christian ... believe heaven is the place you want to go. It's supposed to be a happy place, a place of genuine joy, no more tears, real peace ... all that good stuff. They just ... aren't ready to go yet. And ... they're kind of angry when someone they love does go. (Especially since most people seem to believe that anyone they love goes to heaven.) Why?
They say you can tell what someone believes by what they do. So when someone claims to believe in the supreme goodness of heaven and doesn't want to go, what does that say about what they believe? Somewhere around the turn of the century, primary physicians started adding a mental health questionnaire to their routine physical examinations -- questions about feeling depressed, anxiety, thoughts of self-harm, that kind of thing. I remember a time I filled one out truthfully when it asked, "Do you ever feel like you'd be better off dead?" I answered, "Yes." My physician was a little concerned, but I explained to her, "If I believe that when I die I will go to a place of perfect existence and eternal happiness, would I be quite sane if I answered, 'No'?" I explained I wasn't interested in hurrying the process and, more to the point, didn't believe I had ultimate control over life and death anyway, but I certainly believed when I died I would be better off. She had to admit the logic.
Just because someone wants to die doesn't mean they're necessarily suicidal. Paul struggled with that. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Php 1:21). He said his desire was to be with Christ ... but serving Christ in this life while he could was better (Php 1:22-25). That ... is a reasonable position. Like Paul, I'm ... homesick. I'm an ambassador on assignment (2 Cor 5:20) and I will serve as long as He wants me to, but ... home ... where He is ... sounds good. As long as He wants me here I'll gladly stay ... but as soon as He calls me, I'll gladly go home. I don't have a prior commitment to life here on Earth ... just a commitment to serving my Lord.
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The hope and promise of Heaven as one’s home for the next life is certainly a huge factor of the Christian faith--although I personally gave that nary a thought when I was born-again at age 20; now, soon to turn 70, it is more of an imminent reality. I can’t quite say I am “homesick,” though, since I’ve never been to Heaven, so I don’t yearn for a return there, but I do relate to Paul’s (and your) longing for everlasting fellowship with our Savior when this life is over.
I liked this quote I just saw: "Heaven doesn't make this life less important; it makes it more important.”
And here’s a “weather forecast” for Heaven: “God reigns, and the Son shines.”
I guess if "homesick" can only be defined as "wanting to go back to a place I've been," I'd agree. Since I define it as "experiencing a longing for one's home during a period of absence from it" and Heaven is the home I was made for and I'm absent from, I'm going to stick to my use of the word.
Oh, I wasn’t objecting to your use of the word; rather, I was realizing that Heaven is mostly unknown to my mind, so I don’t have a “I miss my home” sentiment towards it as much as anticipation for the next new and delightful life in store. I do think it’s interesting to think about whether I was made for Heaven or for earth, since here is where God placed Adam and Eve; I am not 100% sure how the Fall altered all that God had in mind for us and where the “new Heaven and the new earth” fit in for the future as well. But no matter how it all plays out, a redeemed body, mind, and soul will bring a glorious new experience, for sure.
I understand that we don't understand Heaven. There's a song by a group called Downhere ... The Last Amen. It talks about this ... something ... we sense. We can't quite identify. It's quite elusive, not clear ... the sense of ... something better, more, what we're actually built for ... and we'll only truly understand it when we say our last amen ... when everything is answered ... when we're in His presence. No, I don't understand it either, but ... I know being in His presence is the only thing that will ultimately satisfy, and I want it.
Amen! (but not my last one--hopefully :)
It's funny because just today I was thinking about this. I receive an email for prayer requests from my church. I realized something odd, to me anyway. Every single request is for the recovery of the health of so-and-so. They have been having long term health problems, are hospitalized, doctors aren't sure what to do. But the only thing people are asking for is recovery. I get paying for the recovery of non-believers, but especially when we have elderly believers struggling for their next breath, why are we so afraid to pray for their end so that they can suffer no more in the presence of the Lord they love? Why are we so afraid of death? Even we believers act like death is the worst possible outcome for anyone ever. But... it is the end of suffering and sin! What could we want more than to no longer suffer and sin? Like you said, I'm not aiming to cut my life short, but I don't want it to last any longer than it absolutely has to.
So, David, I gather you aren’t led to serve in your church’s Sick & Shut-in Ministry. ;)
I agree with you that moving to the next life “in the presence of the Lord” (and with the absence of suffering and sin) should be the predominant hope for Christians. Still, Jesus healed the sick and even raised the dead during His ministry, while James 5:14 encourages New Testament saints to pursue healing and wellness, so seeking to postpone one’s death (within reason) seems solidly within God’s will. Since the Lord graciously designed our bodies with great capabilities to heal and recover from all manner of pathologies that befall us in our fallen state, it is only right to call upon the sovereign and merciful Great Physician in cases of both minor and serious illness.
One obvious reason to desire healing and continuation of this earthly life is to have more time with one’s loved ones. I am sure you can appreciate that parents/grandparents would not relish the prospect of leaving their children/grandchildren, or spouses their partners, and thereby removing the vital supportive connections built up during one’s lifetime. This concern for our survivors might seem earthly-minded, but I am sure there are eternal factors tied to our presence here, which we should not discount too quickly.
Having said that, I can understand your sentiment that believers should not fear death. Personally, I have chosen not to pursue all the “preventive” procedures and “health screening” tests my health care provider regularly recommends to me, and should I be found to have a truly serious disease, I probably will not take aggressive actions to be cured. Still, I’m not eager to leave this life, while I am still needed by others and/or useful to the Lord.
I like this saying: “Live each day like it’s your last one … because one day it will be.” Yes, my life is like a mist (James 4:14), but every day I see this magnet on my fridge: “EACH NEW DAY IS A GIFT; THAT’S WHY WE CALL IT THE PRESENT.” (I really like when wordplay actually makes good sense.)
There's a song or a poem that goes like, "If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane. I would walk right up to Heaven, and bring you back again." It's not the desire to heal ailing people that is the problem. It's the drive to avoid dying. It's the notion that ALL dying is bad and we must avoid it at all costs. I know of a pastor in California that was well loved and respected. He was diagnosed with cancer and told his congregation, "For years I've been telling you and showing you how to live. Now I'll show you how to die." It's the panic people have over death that is the problem. And I hope no one would ever want to get ME out of heaven and drag me back.
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