Heaven Coach

Life, living things are all God’s creation and God defines them and limits them all according to his purpose. All animals like the wolf below are on the stage where God’s plan unfolds. Man is different than the animals because God created man inherently different. Man’s uniqueness is along the lines of being created in God’s image.
(Picture courtesy http://www.forestwander.com)

Created in God’s Image – Different than other living things

If you used the link it pointed to man as being in the image of God in three ways and these ways are consistent with all of scripture. They are:
1) Man, like God is a spiritual being albeit presently locked in a physical body and spiritual beings are eternal.
2) Man, like God has an intellect and that is different than other living creatures.
3) Man, like God has a personality – a unique personality, there is no one quite like you. Animals are different and although they appear to be unique, their personality development is a mix of their instinctive nature and their interaction with their environment. Some pets are lovable and unique to us.

Respect For Human Life

How can anyone respect human life in a lesser manner than they should? Yet we know they do.
Abortion would be an example of honoring life too little as would of course violence between people carries that stigma. There are many other instances where people show disrespect for each other everyday. They cheat, insult, show anger, and do selfish things that hurt innocent people and thus dishonor their fellow human beings.
The sense where human life is honored too greatly is very real also. You need to understand and trust God in order to have this view.

Paul had this understanding when he said:

Philippians 1:23

For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

Your existence is not over when you die, the scriptures allow you to know this with certainty. So for God’s people they can say:

1 Corinthians 15:55-57

55 O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is no sting in death for God’s children so you need to be a child of God. That is the most important subject but not the subject of this page. Death of our loved ones can be devastating. It does not have to be since they still exist and may be in a better place. God’s people do not only think this might be the case they know this is the case. So life is not honored too highly because we know it will end and in reality existence will not end. So we honor the living in how we treat each other and do all we can do to sustain life but when life is over it is just part of God’s plan. We should honor the next life greater than this life, holding it much higher than our physical life. We should do this because then we can live for the next life while we are in the present body. Living for the next life is living in a way that we assure our success, ending up in heaven.

You can really have peace in this life, if you obeyed God and lived faithfully. Then you are in the same situation as Paul spoke of above wanting to serve God in this life but knowing it is far better to depart and be with Christ.
On the other hand if you or your loved ones “pass” not being aligned with God then there is indeed a great loss. So a loved one, a friend passes and there should be very deep sorrow and maybe you failed to help that person.

A very tough realization about our loved ones, our children, our spouses, our parents

People have said I could not live in heaven if my wife/husband and/or my children and/or my parents and/or my grandparents and/or my friends were not there also. If you feel that way you need to understand God in a much better way.
The person who is your spouse is there because he/she was the one you met and fell in love with and married. You might think it was perfect or maybe not so good but you could have met someone else and been just as happy (or sad) or even happier. Life is not about your marriage partner. Every person is on their own and every godly person cares about other people. You have a special duty to your wife or husband as well as your children and God outlines this in scripture. It is an earthly contract and relates very directly to God’s purpose. Every person will stand alone before God and will receive perfect justice along the lines of God’s purpose, plan. Members of your earthly family will each stand likewise before God and God’s children indeed love God and his judgments. This may be hard to understand but as you understand God more completely it will make perfect sense. Knowing this, a child of God needs to be relentless in teaching the truth to all people. One’s family is usually a prime target for your help. So providing our families with every possible earthy advantage will really have little meaningful value and may even mislead. Instead teach others to value the next life higher than this one while realizing this life determines your eternal success or failure.
It can very difficult to explain the next life and really impossible since even in our relatively high state of being in the image of God we are still “essentially infinitely” less than God in every way. Just living in a world where time exists and our physical nature limits us when in our next life we will have no such limitations is rather overwhelming for our understanding. So all I can really derive is that each person stands alone before God and that the following verses may help albeit not explain the realization discussed in this section.

Romans 8:28

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

2 Corinthians 4:17,18

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

You can have a very successful end to your earthly life and it will be as the result of your service to God. In some way you will understand why others who you have loved but they did not love God have failed in life. The value of knowing this now might have you live more godly and help others, especially those who you love. Yet, it may also help you to understand the value of each person and the need for each person to find, obey and live the truth. Look at your family, friends as great blessings from God and fulfill your godly duty towards them but also be aware like most things on earth they are temporary. Your great earthly love for others ultimately needs to be translated into concern for their souls.
Last thought: I do not really know how all these earthly relationships will be reconciled but what is suggested is consistent with what God has revealed. The bottom line is that life (your earthly existence) is not about this life. The book on the right hand column at the top of this page points to what life is all about (as does this website) and is suggested reading.