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"Evangelicals hold up the spiritual life and make that the basis for whether you're living right. But God cares as much about that as he does about debt, parenting, or whether you're a good neighbor," Wittmer says. "Everyone has the opportunity to please God, the plumber as much as the preacher, the stay-at-home mom as much as the missionary."

Wittmer concedes that this may be new to some people, so he devotes his final chapter to the most common objections, such as: "Doesn't this talk about the goodness of creation provide spiritual cover for materialism?" and "Doesn't it distract from more urgent tasks, such as evangelism?" Wittmer argues that, far from leading someone into worldliness, this Christian worldview actually raises the bar of the Christian life.

"The Lordship of Jesus Christ, who is both Creator and Redeemer, has implications for all of life. We are no longer free to compartmentalize our lives, thinking that we only please God when we are doing spiritual things like reading our Bibles, praying, and witnessing. Of course we should do these things, and more of them, but we must also recognize that we must live for Christ in everything we do. The movies we watch, how we treat other people, how we act at home — it all matters now."

Readers will find Heaven Is a Place on Earth both liberating and challenging. Liberating because God allows each of us to be ourselves, not a super-spiritual giant, able to focus on our callings. It's challenging because that calling matters to God.

"Because my calling matters, I had better be the best me I can be," Wittmer says. "The message of this book, indeed of Scripture, is to be yourself, but to be that person with excellence."

Heaven Is a Place on Earth includes discussion questions, case studies, and a study and leaders guide. Wittmer is currently working on a second book, tentatively titled Dual Citizenship, which continues some of the themes struck in Heaven.

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Heaven Is a Place on Earth is available from ChristianBook.com and other book retailers.

Zondervan has more information about the book, including an excerpt and PDFs of the first 33 pages.

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August (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48