Heaven is a World of Love

The title of this post is from Jonathan Edwards and the title of one of his essays. It describes a world in which love is pure and unsullied. Heaven is a world of love. We don’t have that now.

I would like to address just one aspect of the problem of an sullied love (definition: defiled or tainted, soiled or stained). But first we must remove a common error. “The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference.” That is a quote that I copied a couple weeks ago. I didn’t keep the source since it is a common observation. Love and hate are not opposites. You can imagine a person, perhaps a spouse, who has been betrayed by his/her partner. They have loved this person, and they continue to do so. But they also hate him/her. Love and hate can coexist in the same person and at the same time. Some would be surprised to note that the Bible calls upon us to love, but it also calls us to hate - to hate the things that God hates.

No, the opposite of love is indifference. There were very few Valentine cards shared last week that said, “I love you will all my heart, and I couldn’t care less.” Garrison Keillor from Prairie Home Companion had a sketch where he claimed that it was disinterest that drew him and his wife together in the first place. Likewise, we would never say that indifference is the glue that holds us together.

Can you imagine being a patient in a care facility, perhaps a hospital? And can you imagine that there would be a difference between a nurse or attendant who did their job with clinical efficiency, but with personal disinterest; and then contrast this with another caregiver who functions with the same clinical skills, but who provides that skill combined with love for you, the patient? Would you notice the difference? I believe you would. Why? Because they care. Caregivers are those who care. They love. It makes a difference.

But caring and loving is hard. It is painful. When you love a person, there is no guarantee that they will you love back. Or, given the illustration above, maybe they will die. I suppose the first, uncaring “caregiver” could say, “Oh well, another one bites the dust.” But not the second. He/she will grieve. It hurts to lose in love.

And so we have to ask, how was it that Jesus served us? He had the unique ability to provide redemption to sinful humanity because he was both divine and human. Only God can save, and only One can save who can walk in our shoes and die in our place. He had the ability to do the job. Now did He do so with disinterest? The beginning of John 13, describing Jesus in the Upper Room just before He was arrested, was described like this: “Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” There was no disinterest on the part of Jesus.

And so, if we claim to be followers of Jesus; if we claim to be Christians, we cannot give ourselves over to indifference. We must love, which will help prepare us for heaven, because heaven is a world of love.

How many couples do you know who continue to live with each other as they grow older, but they live with indifference toward each other? Wouldn’t it be something if Christ were welcomed into their relationship, that they might once again discover an unsullied love?