Pie in the Sky When You Die — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, one of Tolkien’s characters, after seeing a friend that he previously thought had died, says, ‘is everything sad to come untrue?’ Interesting question. The Christian answer is yes, everything that’s sad is going to come untrue, and it will be better one day because we believe in a God and His eternal purposes, that life doesn’t end in death. There is hope for those who are broken and lost.

On the other hand, some people scoff at the idea of a belief in God and eternal reward in heaven. They sneer at the Christian faith. It’s rubbish, pie in the sky when you die. It’s this criticism of Christianity as some vague, silly, fanciful hope that there is more after death. But there’s a problem here. We assume that everyone agrees with us, that all the big questions have been answered. People say, I don’t know, I don’t care about your religious view. It’s got no relevance to me, it’s pie in the sky, a story for the little children.

And if you mention God, some say, Well, how do you know? Why would I accept it? It’s OK for you. I’m not interested. Talk to any Christian evangelist who stops people in the street with a question, Do you believe you’ll meet God in heaven when you die? Many will just stare blankly at you, walk away, and not interested. There seems to be a lack of sensitivity in this current era to spiritual questions, so they just shrug their shoulder. They change the subject.

And we do our best to avoid the topic of death. We deny it and push it away. There are more pleasant things to think about.

So Christianity is sometimes viewed as an emotional or psychological crutch. Weak people need beliefs to help them cope, they say.

Karl Marx, for example, said that religion was the opiate of the masses, like a drug, supposedly that keeps them centred with their oppression in this life. Just pie in the sky and the sweet by and by. But guess what? There are heaps of references in the Bible that tell me there’s more to come when we die, that this life is not the end of everything.

But I want to say that everything in the Bible points to eternity. Everything within us cries out for it, as Solomon observed in the Old Testament, God has also set eternity in the hearts of men. Yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. That’s Ecclesiastes 3:11.

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God designed us to live in eternity. His work with us in this life is not finished yet. God has prepared something wonderful, beautiful for those who love and trust Him, something that lies beyond time, that’s so vast and breathtaking that that eternity is big enough to contain it. The apostle Paul tells us about the wonders of eternity. Have a read in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

It says, therefore we don’t lose heart, and though outwardly we’re wasting away, yet inwardly we’re being renewed day by day. Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

And those verses from 2 Corinthians 4 are the Christian hope. It’s more than just looking on beyond the grave. It declares that everything that happens is directly related to what is coming. In other words, we’re getting ready for heaven. So therefore, everything has a purpose. You don’t have to be frightened of death. If you trust God, He will welcome you into His eternal home in heaven. The hope of heaven and the certainty of arriving at our final destination with the realisation this world is not my home. I’m just passing through.

And that gives us the courage and the strength to face all the ups and downs of the present life, so it’s not just pie in the sky when you die. As someone has said tongue in cheek, it’s steak on your plate while you wait.

So next time you hear someone say, you stupid Christians, what you believe is just pie in the sky, just remind them of CS Lewis, the brilliant author. He said that people who have made the biggest difference in this world have been those who believed most strongly in the next world and did something about it. No doubt he was right. Even if we could verify that assertion, it wouldn’t satisfy some people. And the same CS Lewis said, If I find in myself desires that nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation for me is that I was made for another world.

God has put eternity in the heart of each of us, and whilst we might busy ourselves in all sorts of pursuits, it’s only God through the person of Jesus Christ who gives us true peace and meaning.

Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father, despite the critics, we don’t believe that heaven or death is pie in the sky when you die, we believe in the reality of heaven. Thank you, it’s such a wonderful promise to hang on to. I look forward, Lord, to that experience, and may I help others to believe that, in the journey of life. Amen.

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