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Jane did not want Drew to bear such a burden, so she tried to explain the concept of death coupled with the hope of heaven, but in language a small child could understand. She told him that she did not want him to die but that he did not have to fear death.

"When you die," she gently explained, "you will go to be with Jesus in heaven."

Drew thought about this for a moment, then began to sob inconsolably.

"Who will take care of me in heaven?" he wailed.

"God will," she said—but those were not the words he wanted to hear.

This is the dilemma we face when it comes to being heavenly minded. It is hard to think of heaven without thinking of earth. Our earthly reality seems so much more tangible; we barely know what awaits us in heaven, and can't really know what we are missing. "No eye has seen," the apostle Paul assures us, "no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9).

It is hard to wait for what we cannot see; harder yet to long for what we do not know. Fortunately for us, the apostle goes on to say that God has revealed these things to us by his Spirit. Like a bride so eager for her wedding night that the faded picture of her lover will kindle the fire of desire, we too are surrounded by images designed to ignite our longing for heaven. They are only shadows and not the reality of the life that is to come. But for now, they are enough.

John Koessler serves as chair and professor of pastoral studies at Moody Bible Institute. His most recent book is True Discipleship: The Art of Following Jesus (Moody, 2003).

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September 2005, Vol. 49, No. 9