With the deaths of several celebrities on the forefront of people's minds, I want to focus this week's question and answer on Heaven. 

If you haven’t seen this video, it’ll make your day. I just watched it again as I took a brief break from final revisions on my book. Think of it as God’s common grace at work in this world.  

A few years ago, my wife Nanci showed me an article she had found in her Family Circle magazine. The article was titled "What You Pass On." It was written by author Stephen King. He's not a writer known for his theological insights, but what he wrote echoes the wisdom of Ecclesiastes 5:15 in his assessment of the futility of materialism.

Just as Jesus promises satisfaction as a reward in Heaven, he also promises laughter as a reward. Anticipating the laughter to come, Jesus says we should leap for joy now.

A Christian I met in passing once told me it troubled him that he really didn’t long for Heaven. Instead, he yearned for an Earth that was like God meant it to be.

In Part 1 of Lewis and Longing, a few blogs ago, I quoted from his great sermon, later published as an essay, “The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses.” There’s more in that essay I want to share.

No writer has had greater impact on me than C. S. Lewis. I find both his fiction and nonfiction to be penetrating and life-shaping. And when it comes to the subject of the longings of our heart, no one said it better than Lewis.  

The infinite abyss in our hearts, which might be called a vacuum, can only be filled by the infinite God Himself. We still have a trace of an ancient happiness that was in the hearts of Adam and Eve, a happiness which preceded sin and was ruined by it. But it was not utterly destroyed. Its mark is still upon us, and one day, when redemption is fully realized, God will fan it into flames again, never to be quenched.

This week I want to talk about our Longing for Joy, something that isn’t selfish in the bad sense, but something God made us for. In fact, some great theologians said in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, written nearly 400 years ago, “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” There is biblical support for that bold declaration.