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I have seen the electrifying results of what can happen when the concept of heaven comes alive. My wife, Janet, works with senior citizens in a part of Chicago recently judged the poorest community in the United States. About half of her clients are white, half are black. All of them have lived through harsh times: two world wars, the Great Depression, the waves of social upheaval that have affected major cities. And all of them, in their seventies and eighties, face the inevitability of death.

My wife has observed a remarkable difference in the way the whites and blacks face death. There are exceptions, of course, but the trend is this: many of the whites become increasingly more fearful and uptight. They complain about their lives, their families, and their deteriorating health.

The blacks, in contrast, maintain a good humor and spirit of triumph even though most of them have greater reason for bitterness and despair. Their lives were three-fourths over by the time the civil rights bills were passed.

Janet believes the difference is hope, a hope that traces directly to the blacks' bedrock belief in heaven. "This world is not my home, I'm just passin' through," they say. These words and others like them came out of a tragic period of history, when everything in this world looked bleak. But black churches managed to instill a vivid belief in a home beyond this one.

Somehow, these neglected saints have learned to anticipate and enjoy God in spite of the difficulties of their lives. When we get to heaven, many of us may be shocked at what it means to enjoy God. For others, such as these elderly blacks, that joy will seem more like a long-awaited homecoming than a visit to a new place. Who knows, they may save a few hundred years' awkward transition.

This article originally appeared in the September 7, 1984, issue of Christianity Today magazine. Philip Yancey is editor at large and columnist for CT. Yancey's Where is God When it Hurts, Reaching for the Invisible God, Soul Survivor, and other books are available at Christianbook.com.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Other stories appearing on our site today include:

Harleys in Heaven | What Christians have thought of the afterlife and what difference it makes now.

The Believer's Final Bliss | The regeneration of man requires that old things must pass away and all things become new. By John Murray (July 7, 1958)

The Glories of Heaven | While heaven will be glorious, the greater glory will consist in our transformation. By Stanley C. Baldwin (May 22, 1964)

The Hope of Heaven | Have Christians forfeited their rightful anticipation of eternity? By L. Nelson Bell (May 24, 1968)

Illusion or Reality? | Heaven is a place. There is a city we are going to see and walk in. By Edith Schaeffer (Mar. 12, 1976)

Heaven: Not Just an Eternal Day Off | As if anticipating the question, "Will life on the new earth be boring?" the Bible points to much activity there. By Anthony Hoekema (Sept. 20, 1985)

What Will Heaven Be Like? | Thirty-five frequently asked questions about eternity. By Peter Kreeft (from Tough Questions Christians Ask, 1989)

The Eternal Weight of Glory | If only we could have the positives of earthly life without the negatives. By Harry Blamires (May 27, 1991)

Afraid of Heaven | We do not yearn to be near God because we do not find sin utterly repugnant or goodness rapturously attractive. By Kenneth Kantzer (May 27, 1991)

Other related articles include:

Hell's Final Enigma | Won't heaven's joy be spoiled by our awareness of unsaved loved ones in hell? (April 24, 2004)

Christian History Corner: How the Early Church Saw Heaven | The first Christians had very specific ideas about who they would meet in the afterlife. (August 9, 2002)

What's a Heaven For? | C. S. Lewis saw belief in heaven not as wishful thinking, but as thoughtful wishing. (Oct. 26, 1998)

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June (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47