The Best Thing about Heaven will be…

Have you ever thought about this question:  What will be the best thing about heaven?  I think if you asked a number of people, I would probably get a wide variety of answers.  For some, the best thing about heaven will be that it is eternal, everlasting, forever.  And that will be amazing.  It is hard to grasp being there a million years and still having just begun.

For others, the best thing about heaven will be the promise of perfection.  Heaven will be place without tears, without pain, without disease, without sin and most of all, without death.  For those of us on earth who suffer with pain, or heartache, or the loss of loved ones, that is an amazing promise to hold on to.

Still others will tell you that the best thing about heaven will be the gigantic family reunion.  Seeing their spouse or their children, their parents, grandparents or good friends again will be, for them, the thing they anticipate about heaven the most.  I look forward to that to – not only for a chance to get to know my grandparents better (most of them died when I was young), but also to meet the generations before them, in whose spiritual legacy I follow, and who I never did get to know.

All those things are good things.  To those things, some might add walking the streets of gold, or seeing creation restored completely, or gazing in wonder at all the beauty of the New Jerusalem.  But are these things – as amazing as they will be – the best thing about heaven?

Let me suggest to you that the Scripture points us to something else.  The best thing about heaven will be Jesus.  The best thing about heaven will be being face to face with the One who loves us, died for our sake and rose so that we might have heavenly life.  The best thing will be living eternally with the One who made it possible for us to dwell with our God.  The apostle Paul believed knowing and seeing Jesus was the best thing he could imagine.  He was willing to suffer the loss of all things for the hope of seeing Christ. (Phil. 3:8)  His desire was to depart from this world in order to see Christ, which was better by far. (Phil. 1:23)  The apostle John is the similar.  You can almost hear the awe in his words as his anticipates the day when Jesus will be revealed, we will be glorified, and we will be able to see Him as He is, face to face. (1 John 3:2)

The best thing about heaven will be Jesus.  So, if that is true, let me ask you another question.  If Jesus will be the best thing about your eternity, why is He not the best thing about your life right now?  If you are like me, you have a lot of “bests.”  If we are not careful, our life can revolve around our collection of “bests.”  The best CD I own.  The best book I read.  The best game I have ever played.  The best vacation I have taken.  The best job I ever had.  The best place I ever lived.  The best food I have ever eaten.  The best car I have ever owned.  The best.  The best.  The best.  And again, while those things are great, and God wants us to enjoy the blessings He has given us and the creation He has set us in, compared to Jesus, our collection of “bests” are pretty sad, very temporary, and ultimately unsatisfactory.  Jesus will be the best thing about your eternal life.  Why not make sure He is the best thing in your life right now.