Not Just Gold

God has been giving me a new look on things lately. He's helped me to see things from a different perspective than I had before.

Last Spring I was ministering to a fellow student who I had English with at my previous college. This student, Sam, didn't know God, he had come over to America from a place that didn't have much Christian influence. His English wasn't perfect so I ended up helping him with his essays, which is how I ended up telling him about God. After a few days I thought things were going well, but then suddenly he hit me with "Well that's all good but I'd still rather go to Hell." I was shocked and said so. I asked him why in the world he would choose that over the many wonders of Heaven, I described it as a place with no pain and that it was full of joy, the same way I'd heard it described countless times. His response was, "Why should I want that? I've got it good enough here." I didn't know what to say at the time but to look at him incredulously. I couldn't understand why he didn't want eternal happiness. We went on to talk for days after that, and while he  never came to Jesus I still feel like he was further than he had been before we talked.

Now I feel like God has shown me something about Heaven that I hadn't seen before. Yes the streets are made of gold and yes there will be no pain and sadness but that's not what's so great about Heaven. All those things pale in comparison to the best thing that awaits us when we get there, God himself I can't believe it took me so long to realize but being able to be with God, and to spend eternity living with Him is greater than anything I could ever imagine. When you love someone you want to be with them all the time and its the same way with God, because I love Him I always want to be with Him, I crave his presence and can not wait until I get to see Him face to face. And I believe he feels that way about each and every one of His children. That is why we should want to go to Heaven, to be with God, not for all the extra stuff that comes with it.

What's your outlook on Heaven? Do you crave God or are you still looking for just the gold?