There are a lot of days, especially recently with all of the chaos in the world, that I think about what Heaven is going to be like. I picture a never-ending white background, two golden gates at the “entrance,” and a bunch of angels flying around big puffy, beautiful clouds. Of course, this is the typical cartoon picture of what Heaven looks like but nobody could really ever come close to imagining what it will be like until we get there. Sometimes the thought of that is scary but other times I cannot wait to get to Heaven. But what if we never got there? What if Heaven didn’t exist? What would our lives look like?

Think about it.

What would our day-to-day lives look like, as Christians, if we didn’t have the end goal of Heaven to work toward? If God was still our Heavenly Father but there was no Heaven for us, would we still live a life dedicated to Jesus Christ? Would we still thank Him for the blessings He gives us every day on this earth by honoring Him with this life or would we throw it all away because, “Ehh there’s really no point?”

I would love to say that I’d still be on fire for God, that I’d still fight to honor Him every day, and dedicate my life to Him…but would I? A lot of the time, Heaven is my motivator, the trophy at the end of a hard fought race, the gift that will make all the pain and hurt worth it. But is that what Jesus wants me to live like? Just making it through this life so that one day when I get to Heaven, I can be happy? Of course not! Jesus gave us one life to live on this earth and I think after all The Lord has done for me, He deserves that I live a life dedicated to Him, even if there was no Heaven.

I look around me and I see my perfect, healthy family, I see friends that The Lord strategically placed in my life, I see freedom, I see food and clean water any time I want it, I see a chance to go to college, to worship Him freely, to live life free of worry and fear; because even though nothing on this earth will matter after I’m gone, He still cares about giving me the best life I could possibly have while on this earth. And I think that, even if there was no Heaven, that should be enough. The fact that God gave me life is enough reason to honor Him with my life.

That is the end goal, to make it to the end of this life and be able to say that I lived a life that was honoring and pleasing to my God, that I lived like a servant of Christ, bettering myself to be more like Jesus every day--not that I finally got the reward at the end of the cereal box. And don’t get me wrong, The Lord blessed us with eternal life spent with Him in Heaven, something that we should absolutely look forward to with great joy and excitement. But even if He wouldn’t have, even If there was no Heaven, would you still live a life honoring to The Lord, our Provider, our Healer, our Shepherd, our Father? Or are you strictly working toward the reward?

We were put on this earth for a purpose, not to sit around and wait to make it to Heaven. So go find yours, live it, and love the Lord!

Psalm 16:11: You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.