What is your destiny? Can you hope for life beyond death, and if so, what is the nature of the afterlife?

Since the dawn of humanity, human beings have had a “sense of the eternal”—a vision of life beyond the grave. It part of our basic God-given spiritual awareness. Yet in sinfulness, our spiritual vision becomes distorted, generally along the lines of our own personal self-interest; and this is especially evident in human imaginings about the afterlife.

In ancient times, rulers liked to imagine that they would take their wealth and grandeur with them into eternity. Pharoahs piled up riches in their tombs, so that they would have access to them in the afterlife; or in China, Emperor Qin Shi Huang built a life-size terracotta army for his tomb, so that he could take his army with him. Today, people continue to like to imagine heaven as an extension of their earthly pleasures and desires. Heaven, people like to think, is a place where you get to do for all eternity the things that you liked to do on earth, or where you get to have the things you always wanted on earth.

The self-centered vision of heaven has reached an extreme and very dark expression today—among radical Islamist terrorists—who imagine they can give full vent to their hate and achieve thereby an eternal personal paradise, where they will get all the things they ever desired.

The vision of Jesus is radically different. Jesus did not look forward to entering an eternal personal playground. When speaking of his destiny, Jesus said, “I am going to the Father.” He also spoke of continuing to be engaged in love for others. “Remember,” he said to his disciples, “I am with you always.” The New Testament vision of heaven is that heaven is fellowship with God and an eternal sharing in the love of God.

In short, heaven is not about me. It is about God. If we are looking to enter into heaven, we need to join with Jesus and lift our life to God.

But how can we lift our life to God when we are sinners—separated from God by our own waywardness and guilt? The answer is given to us in Jesus, who offers his life on the cross so that we can be forgiven and reconciled to God. The death and resurrection of Jesus make heaven possible. Through Jesus, we can be lifted up by God’s grace, to enter into genuine fellowship with God, in whose presence we find true wholeness and joy.

We have a tremendous destiny! Our destiny is God—to live forever in the love of God. When we take hold of that destiny, we can live now in the goodness and compassion of God, and create some of heaven in our world today.

Sunday’s Scripture Readings
Ephesians 2:4–7
Mark 16:1–7

Related posts:

What Happens When You Die? How Do We Know? What Happens When You Die? Your Divine Destiny