Kyle Kauffman

Suffering. It’s the one thing we all wish that we could avoid. And yet it is the one thing that every single one of us will face in this life. The amount of suffering we face will vary, but no one makes it through this life without suffering. Whether it is loss, physical pain, mental and emotional pain, or a combination of all of them, everyone suffers. The hope of heaven does not alleviate suffering in this world, but it can transform how we think about suffering, how we face suffering, and how we have hope in suffering. Conversely, suffering can change how we think about heaven, increase our longing for heaven, and help us to live our lives focused on heaven. The Bible is a book full of people who suffered just as we suffer, but the Bible also points us to the hope we have that is able to sustain us through our all suffering in this life.

2 Corinthians 4:16-5:4

Kyle Kauffman

What we believe about forever will shape how we use our money (and other resources) in the present. Or to put it another way, how we use our money will reveal what we truly believe about the future. If we believe this life is all there is then we will use our money to get as much as we possibly can out of this life. But if we truly believe that this life is short and heaven and hell are forever, then we will look for ways to use our money to make an eternal difference. Our use of money (how we spend it and save it) will reveal whether we are living for here and now or whether we are living for eternity. The more we set our hopes on the future God has promised to us, the more gladly we will give away our money in the present to invest in that future. Either our money will reveal we are living to gain all we can here and now, or that we are living to gain heaven and all that God promises to us.

Matthew 6:19-24

Kyle Kauffman

The future we are promised is meant to shape our lives in the present. One of the ways our future should shape the present is in motivating us to grow in holiness/Christlikeness. When we know that heaven is our true home it means we should be okay with living as foreigners in this world. When we know that one day, we will be perfectly holy, it should lead us to pursue holiness in our lives today. If we are going to spend forever with Christ, then it should lead us to live for Christ right now. Paul was a man who was consumed with thoughts of heaven, and as a result he was a man who was radically transformed in the present. We find in Paul’s words in Philippians 3:12-21 four ways that forever impacts how we live in the present.

Philippians 3:12-21; Colossians 3:1-4

Kyle Kauffman

We tend to spend more time focusing on “how” things will end in this life then we spend focusing on what will come afterwards. We often talk about the end times and how it we believe everything will end more than we actually talk about heaven and what comes after the “end.” What do you believe heaven will be like? What types of images and descriptions come to your mind as you think about heaven? While the descriptions of heaven we find in the Bible leave a lot to the imagination, they also give us some really important details that help us to imagine heaven. We find one picture of Heaven in Revelation 21-22. The picture we find is incredible! And the more we both understand and meditate on this future, the more we will find it having an impact on our present.

Revelation 21:1-8; 22:1-5

Kyle Kauffman

You are going to live forever. Let that sink in for a moment. Forever is where you are headed. Your life will not end the moment you stop breathing in on this earth. Rather, you will go on living forever after you die here and now. Many people are vague on whether or not forever exists. They may hope there is some sort of afterlife, and yet they are unsure if there really is. And yet many people are “sure” that if there is an afterlife then it must be good for everyone. Meanwhile many Christians believe they are going to live forever and yet we can spend so little time thinking about forever and what difference it makes for right now. The Bible is clear that we are going to live forever. It is also clear that there are two eternal destinies: Heaven and Hell. And there is only one person who can change our eternal destiny. As we look to Jesus, we discover that the future is certain and we discover that we can know our future for certain. And we are challenged to live with that future in view.

John 5:19-29