7 Things We Will Not Do in Heaven
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In heaven, there’s so much to look forward to: the joy, the peace, and the presence of God. But if we’re honest, the Bible doesn’t give us a play-by-play of exactly what we’ll be doing in heaven. What it gives us are glimpses of what life in heaven will look like, and from that, we can understand to a degree some things that won’t be part of our heavenly experience.
So, while there are plenty of things to look forward to, let’s take a moment to reflect on the things we won’t have to worry about in heaven. Here are seven things we won’t do when in heaven.
1. We Won’t Sin
“But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).
One thing we won’t do in heaven is sin, because heaven is a place that is not corrupted by sin. In this life, we have never lived one day without having to deal with sin or our sinful nature. There is an internal battle we all experience between the desires of our flesh and the desires of the Spirit. These two are bitter enemies and will never agree.
But that is the story of this life. In heaven, the capacity to sin that we now experience in this body will be gone forever. You won’t have to worry about fighting your flesh because the impulse to sin, the influence to sin, and the impact of sin will be gone forever. I don’t know what it is like to live without seeing the effects of sin, but one day we will, and the sin that can so easily beset us now will be done away with once and for all.
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2. We Won’t Pray
When we get to heaven, we won’t have to pray anymore. I know that sounds strange because prayer is such an integral part of our lives now. When you consider why we pray now, you will realize why we won’t have to in heaven. Prayer is one of our primary means of communicating and living in relationship with the Lord.
Since we can’t see God face to face, we pray, because that is how we can enter and experience the presence of God. In prayer, we confess sin, we ask for what we need, and we have fellowship with God. Prayer gives us brief glimpses of the majesty and the glory of God, which we cannot experience fully because of the limitations of our flesh.
However, those limitations will vanish when we reach heaven. We will walk in eternal fellowship with the Lord, we won’t sin and everything we need will already be provided for us. Since there won’t be any need for asking and we will live in the glory of his presence, we won’t need to pray anymore.
3. We Won’t Get Sick
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17).
We recently went through a two-week period where three of my immediate family members got sick and ended up in the hospital. One of my good friends also got sick during this period and ended up in the hospital as well. At some point, we will all experience sickness in this life, because it is the byproduct of sin in this world.
But sickness won’t exist in heaven because when you remove sin, then sickness goes along with it. If you are currently dealing with sickness in your body, this is one of the hopes of heaven that you can cling to. Currently, our bodies are susceptible to disease and illness, but that is only for the years we live here on earth. When we get to heaven, there will be no more sickness because that all belongs to the old order of things which is gone forever in heaven.
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4. We Won’t Die
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” (John 11:25-26).
Along with sickness is death. The corruptible bodies we live in now age and as time goes by, things don’t work as well as they used to. If you are a young person reading this, that statement has no relevance to you right now, but if you live long enough, remember those words. There are aches and pains that come with aging and one day, these bodies will eventually give out. But that too is the story of this life.
Death will no longer exist in heaven. We will have perfect bodies, made in the image of Jesus’ glorified body. These bodies won’t age, they won’t break down, and they won’t die because they are built to last for eternity.
5. We Won’t Engage in Spiritual Warfare
“He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4).
On earth, we are currently in a fight. We wrestle against Satan and his spiritual forces of evil that are present in this age we live in. To engage in this battle, we put on the armor of God so we can stand and win. However, like everything else in this age, the spiritual battles we face are temporary. When we get to heaven, we will put our armor down because the battle will be over. Jesus, our conquering king, will have defeated Satan and his demonic forces once and for all. We will never again have to deal with him, and in heaven the two greatest enemies we faced in this life, Satan and our flesh, will be defeated forever.
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6. We Won’t Need Faith
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
In our current state of life, faith is a necessity. We serve a God whom we cannot see with our physical eyes and the Bible tells us we need faith because we cannot come to God without first believing that he exists (Heb. 11:6). However, faith is only necessary because what we are believing for has not happened yet. We know that heaven is our future home and until we reach it, we have faith knowing that when we pass from this life, we will go to be with the Lord forever.
While we believe this, we have not experienced it yet. Our faith is the hope that bridges that gap between what we have prayed for and believed, and the time when those things will come to pass. When we get to heaven, the realization of everything we have believed will shift and, at that point, our faith will become sight. Our hope will become our reality and from that point forward, we won’t need to hope or believe because we will live in what we have longed for and hoped for.
7. We Won’t Experience Darkness
“There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).
Every day, we experience light and darkness. The sun rises in the morning, bringing with it the hope and expectation of a new day. In the evening the sun sets, and we rest, hopefully having made that day a productive one. This cycle will continue as long as this earth exists. But this is not what we will experience in heaven. We will live forever in the light of the glory of God, which is a light that far outshines this noon day sun.
On some mornings I drive my daughter to school and when we make the turn towards the school, the light of the morning sun is blinding. I can only imagine what the light of God’s glory will be like. Yet one day we will know, and we will never experience darkness again.
Photo credit: Pexels/Joy Marino
