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

by John Burke

“Who defines who you are?” This is such a critical question, but so few of us have really stopped to answer it. Who has the right to define who you are? What you’re worth? What your purpose is? Whether you succeed or fail? How you define your identity is ultra-important. What you believe about yourself is what shapes all your decisions and actions. Most of us end up believing things about our identity that are not grounded in God’s reality—who God created us to be, what God created us to do. We believe lies about our identity that the evils of this world inflict on us. We constantly worry about the opinions or approval of others. We experience intense anxiety when we’re not succeeding or are not recognized for our

accomplishments. We feel sick inside when the stock market drops or we don’t get promoted. We find ourselves lowering our standards to new levels, then justifying it in order to prove our worth or get someone to love us. We feel the need to control our spouse or our kids because our identity has somehow gotten wrapped up in what others think or do.

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.

What have you done with your life to show Me? Already I understood that in my first frantic efforts to come up with an impressive answer, I had missed the point altogether. He was not asking about accomplishments and awards. The question, like everything else proceeding from Him, had to do with love. How much have you loved with your life? Have you loved others as I am loving you? Totally? Unconditionally?5

God never intended you to base your identity on accomplishments or performing. No one knows what you were created to do and be except your Creator. Look what God says about your true identity: “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isaiah 43:6–7, italics mine). 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 f...

Wise King Solomon said it’s because God has “set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We want our lives to count. We want to be remembered. We want a name that will last, because God made us for himself for eternity. Jesus taught that God the Father wants us to live in the security of knowing how valuable we are to him. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more

than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29–31).

Knowing how God sees you sets you free to accomplish things God created you to accomplish. It sets you free to use your unique gifts, time, and resources to make an impact that lasts for eternity—not to prove you’re worth something, but because you’re worth

everything to God.

Moses said it and Jesus reiterated

it—to love God is the first and greatest command (our purpose). To love our neighbors (those he puts in our lives) as much as we love ourselves—that’s second. Do those two, Jesus taught, and you fulfill the intent of all the other commands of the Bible (Matthew 22:34–40).

What Jesus said was in response to the Sadducees, a group of antagonistic religious leaders who did not believe in life after death. They asked Jesus a trick question: “If a woman is married and her husband dies, she remarries and it happens again . . . seven times, which of the seven will she be married to in Heaven?” Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matthew 22:23–30, my paraphrase). He goes on to say God told Moses, whom they claimed to follow, that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (who were all dead). Jesus says, God isn’t the God of the dead, but of the living—God’s people live on by God’s power! And the power of God can unite people in ways that overcome our relational squabbles and concerns, and that’s what he will do for all his children. Then Jesus says, “At the resurrection people will

neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). Jesus did not say we will not be with our spouse or loved ones. He said there won’t be new individual marriages—there won’t need to be because there will be no procreation or new families. But our family relationships will not be less special or less close in eternity, they will be closer and deeper. We might love all our new brothers and sisters,

but that does not mean we will have the same special relationship, history, memories, or bonds with all people equally. In fact, our earthly families seem to be really important in Heaven. All throughout the Old Testament, when a person would die, the Scriptures would say, “Then Abraham breathed his l...

25:8, italics mine). “Then [Isaac] breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people” (35:29, italics mine). God created...

they remain important to him...

Imagine this place, full of the beauty God created on earth. Because after all, when God created the earth he declared, “It is good” (Genesis 1), but earth’s beauty has been marred by evil and subjected to death and decay, so that we will realize what’s missing—God’s perfect will and ways. “All creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay” (Romans 8:20–21 NLT). Imagine creation restored, more real, more beautiful, and more alive than ever. God promises that our earth will ultimately be renewed and joined with Heaven, but the

present Heaven is already beautiful and glorious.