The Urgency of Choosing Heaven
As Christians, we are called to live with an eternal perspective, keeping our eyes fixed on the ultimate destination – Heaven. The most important decision we can make in this life is to choose Heaven. Just as a youth group leader must establish clear rules to keep their young charges safe, so too must we heed the essential “number one rule” for our spiritual lives: “Don’t end up in hell.”
Our choices in this life have eternal ramifications. The Blessed Virgin Mary and the Church’s mystics have consistently emphasized the realities of Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell – not to instill fear, but to motivate us to choose the path that leads to eternal life.
The Gift of Free Will
At the heart of this message is the profound truth that we have been given the gift of free will. As the reading from Sirach reminds us, “If you choose, you can keep the commandments.” The Lord has placed before us “fire and water, life and death, good and evil” – and the choice is ours. This is a tremendous power and responsibility, for our eternal destiny hinges on the decisions we make.
Embrace this freedom and make the conscious choice to spend eternity in Heaven. Decide that you want to spend eternity in Heaven and do everything you can with the help of God to live out that decision. This is a powerful challenge, reminding us that our salvation is not something that happens to us, but something we must actively pursue.
Practical Habits for Choosing Heaven
Here are three practical suggestions:
- Pray for those you feel anger towards – Whenever you experience feelings of anger or resentment towards another person, respond by praying a Hail Mary for them. This simple habit can help transform our hearts, preventing them from becoming hardened and turning us away from God’s love.
- Cultivate a spiritual intuition – As children of God, we have been given a spiritual awareness and an innate sense of the mysteries of the Kingdom. Have a sense of the things of God and be aware to those realities. By nurturing this spiritual sensitivity, we can more readily discern God’s will and the path to Heaven.
- Embrace a positive, joyful outlook – Rather than focusing solely on avoiding sin and hell, approach the spiritual life with a sense of delight and wonder. When we see following God and becoming a saint as a “delightful challenge,” we are far more likely to persevere and grow in holiness.
The Joy of Eternal Life
God desires for us to live life to the fullest, to delight in him and be filled with the utter fullness of his presence. Heaven is not a distant, austere destination, but a place of unimaginable beauty and happiness, where millions of people dressed in white are overwhelmingly happy.
By keeping our eyes fixed on this eternal reward, we can find the strength and motivation to navigate the challenges of this life. As the reading from 1 Corinthians reminds us, “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” – this is the destiny that awaits us if we choose to follow Christ.
Conclusion: Deciding for Heaven
In the end, the choice is ours. The Lord has placed before you fire and water. Stretch out your hand for whichever you choose. Will we choose the path that leads to eternal life in Heaven, or will we succumb to the temptations of this world and risk the eternal consequences of hell?
Make the conscious choice to spend eternity in Heaven. Let us cultivate the habits and spiritual awareness that will keep us firmly on the path to our true and lasting home. And let us do so with joy and delight, confident in the knowledge that our loving God has prepared a place for us in his eternal kingdom.