Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God's Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You

by John Burke

near death experience

Jesus implored us not to live for earthly treasures and material junk that won’t last, but to live every day with an eye on eternity.

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. . . . Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”9

electroencephalogram

Maybe the reason we never feel fully satisfied in this life is because we were created for the life to come.

What you believe about yourself is what shapes all your decisions and actions.

When we base our worth or identity on what we do or what was done to us, we will struggle with fear of failure, feel the need to prove ourselves, or manipulate others who get in the way of our success. We will become self-consumed. That’s because God never created us to get our identity from what we do or what others did to us, but from who we are to God.

God never intended you to base your identity on accomplishments or performing.

God made you for himself—not to prove your glory, but to be his glory. His pride and joy. His beloved son or daughter. What he wants you to do is learn to be secure in his love, in who he made you to be, and from that place of security, you can do what he created you to do. And first and foremost, this is to love those you uniquely can love.

How do we know our unique purpose? It always starts with loving and seeking God, then following his lead to love the people closest to us, and then using the gifts and passions he’s put in us to serve humanity. You don’t need to worry about not fulfilling your purpose; if you seek God and his will, you will live it. But we can’t forget, it’s all about love.

the whole point of this life is the creation of a spiritual family for God.

“Like an eagle is made to soar the heights, we were made for God’s love. Love is our native atmosphere. Yet in a fallen world, we have been separated from love. What we experience as ‘normal life’ is anything but. We are eagles chained to the earth, longing to soar.”

God must be our first love because only then can he teach us how to love others as he loves us.