Are We Busy Looking for "Heaven on Earth"?

2. Twisting the Bible to support this behavior.

Families, hard work, health, and even money are all good things. But when a good thing becomes the only thing in your life, it becomes sin. Suddenly, we are not working with our eyes towards Heaven. Now we are working with our eyes planted firmly on our own shoes. We start to believe – even if we don’t consciously think it – that this promotion, this relationship, this activity or hobby, is more important than Christ. This is what will make me happy and complete. Suddenly the promises of the Bible seem vague and distant; these earthly joys are things we can feel and enjoy now.

We have taken an earthly, breakable object, and placed it above eternity in Heaven.

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To condense what the Apostle Paul is saying here: “I keep doing what I know I shouldn’t, and not doing what I know I should! And it’s frustrating!” Why is he stuck in this cycle? Because of sin.

Sin is a trap that we are all caught in. It keeps us in the loop that Paul describes, ultimately chasing after our own little “slice of heaven” here on earth. We pursue things that we think will make us happy, or that feel great in the moment, instead of seeking that comfort and joy in Christ.

I don’t mean to say we shouldn’t pursue earthly joy. It is good to work hard and enjoy the fruits of that labor. But where is your heart in this situation? Are you focused on honoring Christ with this promotion/relationship/workout/ect, or are you focused on honoring you?

Unfortunately, we don’t get to shrug off our sinful behavior and keep doing it, just because that’s the way we are. As followers of Christ, we have the Holy Spirit living within each of us, and He will twist our hearts and our conscious when we stray. Don’t ignore that pull back onto the path of righteousness, or, as Lewis explained, we are settling for something far worse. As great as our earthly pleasure feels now, it is unfathomable next to the joy that awaits us in Eternity.

Take a minute to look at your life. Is there anything in it that you are pursuing more than your walk with Christ? Anything that you can’t imagine giving up – even if it were to further the Kingdom? Is there anything about which you feel “this makes me as happy as I could possibly be”?  

Well the good news is – for that last question at least – the answer is no! The promise of eternal life in Christ is better than any single earthly joy that we can conceive of. Everything on this earth will whither and die, eventually. But God never will. He is the same always, and His promises for us never fade or fail.

As Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4, everyone who drinks the water from the well will be thirsty again. Even if I had my dream meal that I opened this article with, in about 4-6 hours, I would be hungry again. And if I ate the exact same meal again, it wouldn’t even taste as sweet as the first time. That meal would not truly satisfy.

But the water that Jesus offers us does.

If you feel that you are seeking after earthly pleasure more than you are seeking after Christ, then take a moment, pause and pray. It’s never too late for us to course correct. And while you are enjoying the pleasures of this life that God blesses us with (including home-cooked meals and chocolate chip cookies), don’t forget that there is something far, far better ahead. Stay the course and rely on our Guide.

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Bethany Pyle is the editor for Bible Study Tools.com and the design editor for Crosscards.com. She has a background in journalism and a degree in English from Christopher Newport University. When not editing for Salem, she enjoys good fiction and better coffee.