It’s been three months since my beloved wife of 36 years died. Even though I was inches from her face when she drew her last breath and flew into the arms of her Savior, a part of me has been in denial about it.

Yes, I was aware that her body had been failing her for the last 15 years, but still, the inner child part of me wanted her to stay here indefinitely.

Pretty selfish of me really, in view of the suffering she was going through.

I just didn’t want to let her go. I needed a refresher course in God’s plan for all believers, including the basic truth that this present sin-stained Earth is not our home.

One day, in the future God will cleanse this Earth and make it a fit habitation for His people. Meantime, God wants to gather His children with Him in Heaven.

My Timely Reminder

Recently, I ran across a wonderful song, “Knowing What I Know About Heaven,” by Guy Penrod (which is posted nearby). It reminded me of why I need to let my beloved wife go, once and for all.

I was particularly struck by the song’s refrain:

“Oh, but knowing what I know about heaven
Believing that you’re all the way home
Knowing that you’re somewhere better
Is all I need to let you go
I could hope that I could pray you back
But why on earth would I do that?
When you’re somewhere life and love never ends
Oh, knowing what I know about heaven”

The writer of the song is torn between wanting his loved one back and rejoicing over the better place she is now — that was me, too, and I didn’t realize it!

At times, in my grief, I was simply disregarding the marvelous promises of scripture about Heaven.

God’s Cosmic ‘Departure Package’

Those promises to believers about Heaven include, from John 14:1-3:

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be.”

• Now she is in “The best place,” not just the proverbial “better place.” That is because she is in the visible, tangible glorious presence of the living God. On earth, she had to settle for visualizations and imaginations. Now she is immersed fully in the “real deal.” The Apostle Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known.”
• She has joined God “… as family members and partners in the loving fellowship of those taking part in the most exciting adventure that our earthbound minds can imagine. “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him,” as the late Christian philosopher Dallas Willard wrote, quoting 1 Corinthians 2:9.
• My wife, and all born-again believers, are scheduled for a new body, having turned in the old broken-down model months ago. That new body is amazing, as stated in 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, Philippians 3:20-21 and elsewhere:
  • Believers will receive a transformed, glorified body in the resurrection
  • Imperishable instead of perishable
  • Glorious instead of dishonorable
  • Powerful instead of weak
  • Spiritual rather than merely natural
  • Conformed to Christ’s resurrected body
  • When He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. Believers will share in Christ’s glorified state.
  • A body that remains physical but possesses transformed qualities.
  • Believers cannot die anymore. Their resurrected condition is immortal.

Just before saying goodbye to His disciples and going to the cross, Jesus set forth what all believers can anticipate when it is their turn to “shuffle off this mortal coil.”

“The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” — John 17:22-24

Do you believe this?

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