Heavenly minded is good

In John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress we read of a moment when two pilgrims on their way to the celestial city (heaven) are conversing,

One of the two pilgrims says to the other, "When do you find yourself in the most wholesome and most vigorous spiritual state?" To which the other pilgrim says, "When I think of the place to which I am going."

Bunyan understood that. When he wrote that he understood that heaven on your mind changes your life. The living in a joyous anticipation of the presence of God changes everything.

Sadly, I suppose most Christians are more like the cynical Mark Twain who when told about heaven remarked flippantly, "You take heaven, I'd rather go to Bermuda."

~John MacArthur, The New Heavens and the New Earth

How you think of heaven changes your perspective. It can be changed either for the better, toward a more vigorous and fervent love for Christ and His soon appearing and His taking us to heaven, or it can change it for the worse, in making us apathetic and earthward grasping. Do not be shamed into ceasing talk of heaven and the glories and THE glory of Jesus who awaits us there. In the above sermon, Pastor MacArthur said this:

"A true and vivid longing for heaven has many marvelous implications and many marvelous benefits. A true and vivid longing for heaven, for example, is an evidence of genuine salvation because when a person longs for heaven, you know they're longing for God. They're demonstrating love for the Lord. They're showing you where their heart is."

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."

(Colossians 3:2)