Life provides only one guarantee. We will all die.

Christians believe that every person will die at least once unless Jesus Christ returns before they die. Death, always an emotional and stressful event, is usually easier when our loved ones die trusting in Jesus. It is easier still if the bereaved also trust Him. Faith does not erase pain of suffering and loss, but the comfort which comes from Jesus in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit helps ease burdens.

Death is a significant part of everyone’s life, but it impacts some people harder and sometimes at a much younger age. Those living in places unscathed by pestilence, natural disasters, or war are fortunate, but no one can escape natural death. The older that we get, the more that illnesses and death are part of our everyday lives and the more loved ones we watch die.

The Bible tells us that if we live with God, we will die with Him (Rom. 14:8). This makes logical sense because if we live as God commands us to live, then we will be with Him when we die. What it means to live and die with God is clear when we know how to live relationally with Him. People have different understandings of such living because they often describe life with God according to how they live.

The Bible describes life with God as living according to God’s standards, not ours. God’s norms set the precedent that all people are created equally in His image which goes against the world’s desire for beauty, power, and wealth. Some say they know many Christians who are not good people and deserve hell far more than the good non-Christians they know. But living with God is not how any person imagines it. Living with God is well described in the Bible.

God knows who lives with Him but confusion around what this means exists because people are confused by the world and by today’s churches. When the church veers from God’s truth to accommodate people’s desires, it is hardly God’s lighthouse for the people. Teaching God’s Word (the Bible) has been replaced by the works of people who interpret God’s Word to tickle itching ears, satisfy wandering eyes, and calm spiritual fears.

If we have made a declaration of faith to God and read the Bible ourselves, we understand that living with God means being with Him in relationship twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. God is never out of your mind which means that His ways and laws are ever in your mind and guiding your thoughts, words, and actions. It can be no other way.

If we say we are God’s children, trust Him first, and want to be with Him in eternity, we surely will desire His constant companionship on earth. We will do what He deems right and want Him to reside in us which is the Holy Spirit residing in our spirit. Our body, our house is God’s house because God does not reside in inanimate objects or earthly buildings. God’s Spirit resides in the spirits of the redeemed through Christ, which is why God created every person with a spirit.

Jesus is the only judge of who will inherit heaven. We may judge others as deserving heaven or hell, but we do not know who is going where. God works through all people to further His plan of salvation. He uses those who will inherit heaven and those who will not. God does not require our permission for anything. But we do choose to obey Him and serve Him.

If we consider the things of God, holiness, and goodness, we see how much of what we enjoy on the earth is not of God. Heaven, adorned with the most precious metals and jewels that humanity can obtain, helps us understand that material things are not sinful in themselves. Idolizing them and obsession with accumulating them is though because it takes our focus off the Almighty.

The Bible tells us that there will be feasting eating and drinking in heaven, but we have no idea what it will be like. We do not know what life will be like in heaven, but we can be assured that there will be no substances which dull our senses and cause us to act sinfully. As there will be no marriage in heaven and therefore no reproduction, it is highly unlikely that there will be sex as it is on earth. If there is no sexual activity in heaven, there can be no sexual immorality.

If people expect heaven to be a better rendition of what they enjoy on earth with more of their needs and lusts fulfilled, they are in for a shock. The music they enjoy, the bets they place, the people they pay astronomical sums to see, and the games they play will not be there. Whatever heaven entails, it will be innumerable times more enjoyable, more fulfilling, while being free of stress, sadness, hatred, and death.

To live with God, people truly want to be in heaven with Him because living God’s way is the inverse of what the world models and how it encourages people to live their lives. Heaven will be sinless having the supreme and sovereign God of the universe on the throne. Human terms are insufficient to describe heaven.