Imagine Heaven DevotionalSample

Setting Our Minds on Things Above

Christians often have a very poor view of Heaven. Too many imagine Heaven far less pleasing than earth, and as a result, they live their lives for what is temporal rather than what is eternal. Scripture commands us to imagine Heaven—to set our minds on things above—because it changes how we live in the present. In Hebrews 11, God’s heroes of faith all did this. They had their minds set on a heavenly country, on the city of God, and His eternal reward.  Yet Christians struggle to realize it’s the world to live for and even sacrifice for. Maybe that’s why God has given us more testimonies of Heaven’s reality in our age of modern medicine.

Near-death experiences (NDEs)—when people died, were resuscitated, and claimed to have had a peek into the afterlife—have been a hot topic in recent years. But I’ve never been one to believe every story of seeing Heaven. Over the past thirty-five years, I studied close to one thousand near-death accounts (there are millions out there). After interviewing many people who had NDEs, amazing commonalities appeared across stories—intriguing, detailed descriptions by doctors, professors, commercial airline pilots, children—people with no motivation to make up wild stories. Yet they all gave different angles to what started to look like a similar picture—the Bible’s revelation of the life to come. 

After studying enough near-death experiences, I realized the difference between what the people reported experiencing and the interpretation they might give to that experience based on cultural background or worldview. While interpretations vary, when evaluated together, the core elements of their testimonies color in the Scriptures’ portrait of the afterlife. . 

We wrote this devotional for personal application of the biblical promises of Heaven, in hopes of bringing Heaven’s blessings to your life today as you go through the challenges of life here on earth. We believe the Bible should be the authority and framework for understanding Heaven and interpreting NDEs. We encourage you to read Imagine Heaven for a better understanding of the bigger biblical framework surrounding these stories and for answers to many of the questions commonly asked. 

The apostle Paul tells us to set our minds on the realities of Heaven so that it changes how we live today. These daily reflections will help you set your mind on what God has promised in his Word and live with an eternal perspective.

Why do you think it’s so difficult for people to live for eternal things? How might imagining Heaven help you live for God today?