I have been cogitating on, thinking about, and digesting comments made by a graduating teen. This particular person is no slouch in terms of brains and is particularly articulate. They are also invested heavily in serving this world.
The next world is irrelevant to them. Or rather, they have no belief that there is life beyond this life.
This belief system carries me back a few years to conversations with a senior who also shared this thread of belief. His life was to end with his last breath and he believed his eternity was merely carried on through his progeny – those he had sired.
My wise brother once commented that, had he not been a Christian, he would have leaned heavily towards this existential belief, best portrayed by Jean Paul Sartre. Life, which is meaningless in this belief system, is given a faint glimmer of hope by serving others and siring the next generation.
Heaven dispels this type of faint wishing. The scandal of heaven is that life is never done, merely transferred to a different dimension. Death is not your saviour – ridding you of your mistakes and accomplishments. Instead, you are given an opportunity in this life to prepare for continued life.
In which case, seeking an understanding of heaven becomes rather important.