Are You Prepared?

Though 87% of Americans believe they’ll go to heaven, few are planning and preparing for it. If it is normal for people to plan for the future, shouldn't it be normal for Christians to plan for heaven?

‘What does that mean?’ Well, Jesus said “I’m going to prepare a place for you.” But there are two sides to that! Throughout the NT letters, we are told that life on earth is preparation for eternity, and only “those who endure will reign with Him” (2 Tim 2:12). Though all who are saved will go to heaven, what kind of place we will occupy is yet to be determined, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad… on that day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done, and will show if a person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames” (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 3:13-15).

Though we say we believe this, our actions often suggest otherwise. We spend our entire lives making plans: we plan for our college education, plan our career, plan our marriage and family. Then we hire financial planners, in preparation for retirement and death. Some people even plan their own funerals. But what about your heavenly plans? Are you prepared?