At the heart of the Christian hope lies a profound tension: the promise of an eternal kingdom and the call to faithfully live in a broken, fallen world. If we’re not intentional, heaven can be reduced to a distant destination that comforts in moments of despair, but does little to shape our daily purpose. Yet Scripture encourages us that heaven is not merely a future inheritance, but a present reality that calls and compels us toward faithful obedience today.
HOMESICK FOR HEAVEN
There’s an ache deep within every believer—a homesickness for a Kingdom not yet fully revealed, but deeply longed for. I love how Randy Alcorn says it: “Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us.”
The purpose of Heaven isn’t to just be transported to a beautiful place with streets of gold and elaborate mansions; it’s about the perfect union and marriage with Christ. When we have a right view of heaven and a longing for what’s to come, this allows us to recognize that no comfort, treasure, or accolade can ever satisfy our hearts here on Earth. Knowing Christ and our true fulfillment is waiting for us in eternity, we can choose to be confidently content today rather than turning to earthly desires.
Instead of seeing our eternal purpose through the lens of our Earthly circumstances, we are called to respond to our Earthly circumstances through the lens of our eternal home–heaven.
So how do we bridge the gap between our heavenly home and faithfulness in our everyday lives? Here are a few ways we can do so:
1. GET A VIEW AND VISION OF HEAVEN
Revelation gives us a breathtaking picture of the future: every nation, tribe, people, and language gathered before the throne of God, worshiping the Lamb. There will be no more death, grief, crying, or pain. God will dwell with His people. All things will be made new.
Today isn’t the end of the story. God is just. Righteous. He sees what the world doesn’t, and will reward what the world forgets.
We’re called to live in anticipation of joining that future by urgently pursuing justice, reconciliation, peace, and holiness to bear witness to the coming Kingdom. Not by preaching judgment, but by inviting people to receive grace from the God who loves them and died for them so they could be in heaven with Him forever.
C.S. Lewis once said, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” When our eyes are on eternity, we stop investing in things of Earth that will fade and start pouring our time, energy, resources, and love into what lasts and echoes into eternity.
2. LOOK AT JESUS’ EXAMPLE
Heaven wasn’t a potential vacation spot Jesus came to tell us about–it was a promised paradise for those who would put their faith in Him. It was the very reason He came and the entirety of His purpose.
The lyrics from What A Beautiful Name declare how Jesus modeled this stunningly: “You didn’t want heaven without us, so Jesus You brought heaven down.”
Jesus constantly lived with the promise of heaven in view. Every step Jesus took was aligned with the will of the Father, including coming to earth. His miracles and ministry weren’t mere displays of power; they were signs of heaven breaking into earth. Every word, every want, and every will of His life was saturated with eternal purpose and divine authority, and He came to Earth to be a walking, breathing testimony for us to exemplify.
3. PRAY WHILE ON THE WAY
Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). This prayer urges us not to wait passively for heaven to arrive, but to actively pray for its reality here and now.
I love this quote from Pastor Louie Giglio: “It’s possible to be about things in the kingdom and not about the king.”
Jesus isn’t your normal king. He’s not petulant. Not inconsistent. Not Out of Office.
He’s gracious. Kind. Glorious. Holy. Perfect. King of Kings.
As a King, Jesus showed us that His Kingdom is not of this world, but He invited us to pray that God’s Kingdom would come in this world. So it sounds like Jesus is implying that one of the methods by which the kingdom of God will be ushered into earth as it is in heaven is through prayer.
When we pray, let’s come with a holy reverence because we have the potential to bend reality in the direction of God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven.
Psalm 145:10-13 urges us to declare: All your works praise you, Lord; your faithful people extol you. They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.” Amen.
4. KEEP SOWING
Heavenly hope doesn’t always look extraordinary. More often, it’s revealed in ordinary faithfulness: showing up, forgiving, working hard with integrity, raising children in the faith, loving difficult people, and staying faithful in hiddenness. Heaven gives eternal significance to seemingly mundane moments.
Galatians 6:7-9 shares: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap... And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
This is the call of the Kingdom every day: Keep sowing.
Sow in the Spirit when no one claps—or even notices.
Sow in love when you’re tempted to be bitter or calloused.
Sow in truth when compromise feels easier.
Sow in holiness when culture labels it outdated.
Sow in faith, believing that God is faithful to bring the harvest in His time; in due season.
This is how heaven isn’t just a destination, but shapes our daily direction—allowing every step in faith, every word in truth, and every act of obedience to be a seed planted in the soil of eternity, trusting that the harvest will come—if not in this life, then in the next.
5. LET HEAVEN BE YOUR ANCHOR IN THE STORM
One of the most practical impacts of heaven on our lives now is how we endure suffering. If this life were all there is, pain would have the final word. But because of heaven, we know that grief, loss, and injustice are not the end of the story.
The early church endured persecution, hardship, and martyrdom not because they enjoyed suffering, but because they had a heaven-shaped vision. When we let eternal hope anchor our everyday faithfulness, we can walk through suffering without losing heart. We grieve, but not as those without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
Our storms also clarify what is truly important in light of eternity. They intensify the longing we have for our eternal home, and that informs how we live.
Let this hope anchor you when the storm is raging (Hebrews 6:18-20). Let it embolden you when faithfulness feels costly. And let it guide your every decision, knowing that the glory ahead far outweighs the weight of the present moment (2 Corinthians 4:17).
PURPOSE TODAY AND EVERY DAY
Jesus didn’t die, and the veil wasn’t torn just so that you could go to heaven. It was so that you could be in the presence of God and have a relationship with Him today and every day of your life. So that means, with every breath we take, we have purpose here on Earth while we’re on the journey home.
Heaven is not just your future but also part of your Spiritual formation now. Let us be a people formed by the justice of God, empowered by the hope of Heaven, and faithful in the here and now—until the day when faith becomes sight.
Press on, friend. Look up. Fight to fix your gaze on an eternal perspective so captivated by Jesus that it informs everything you do, day by day.
