"The French Due d'Alva could say, when he was asked by Henry the Fourth whether he had seen the eclipse of the sun, that he had so much business to do upon earth, that he had no time to look up to heaven. Sure I am, the Christian may say with more truth and conscience, that he hath so much business to do for heaven, that he hath no time to mind vain or earthly things."Lectures to my Students
Spiritual things truly satisfy! The more that heaven is in us—the less earth that will content us. He who has once tasted the love of God, his thirst is much quenched towards earthly things. The joys of God's Spirit are heart-filling and heart-cheering joys; he who has these, has heaven begun in him!https://gracegems.org/Watson/art_of_divine_contentment2.htm
There is but one way to heaven, and that is Christ.
But there are many ways to hell: especially these two; some walk a more clean way of self-righteousness, & others a more dirty way of open wickedness; but both meet together at the end…
Be often remembering what a blessed thing it is to be saved, to go to heaven to be made like angels, and to dwell with God and Christ to all eternity.Bunyan's Catechism
O what a blessed day that will be when I shall . . . stand on the shore and look back on the raging seas I have safely passed; when I shall review my pains and sorrows, my fears and tears, and possess the glory which was the end of all!
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?
Since in Heaven we'll finally experience life at its best, it would be more accurate to call our present existence the beforelife rather than to call what follows the afterlife.
Earth is a in-between world touched by both Heaven and Hell. Earth leads directly into Heaven or directly into Hell, affording a choice between the two. The best of life on Earth is a glimpse of Heaven; the worst of life is a glimpse of Hell.
For the Christian, death is not the end of adventure but a doorway from a wold where dreams and adventures shrink, to a world where dreams and adventures forever expand.
The most tragic strain in human existence lies in the fact that the pleasure which we find in the things of this life, however good that pleasure may be in itself, is always taken away from us. The things for which men strive hardly ever turn out to be as satisfying as they expected, and in the rare cases in which they do, sooner or later they are snatched away.... For the Christians, all those partial, broken and fleeting perfections which he glimpses in the world around him, which wither in his grasp and he snatches away from him even while the wither, are found again, perfect, complete and lasting in the absolute beauty of God.
Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us.
The best of life on Earth is a glimpse of Heaven; the worst of life is a glimpse of Hell. For Christians, this present life is the closest they will come to Hell. For unbelievers, it is the closest they will come to Heaven.
When I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders there; the first will be to see many people there that I did not expect to see; the second, to miss many that I did expect to see; and the third, and greatest wonder of all, will be to find myself there.
Prosise, Ron. Preaching Illustrations from Church History (Kindle Locations 1922-1924). Kindle Edition.
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?God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God's Love as the Gift of Himself (Wheaton, I: Crossway, 2005), p. 15.