What Can We Take to Heaven?

Have you ever thought about what we can take to Heaven?

Of course, even with minimal Bible knowledge, we understand we can take nothing that’s solely physical into a completely spiritual world. We also know our obedience for Christ is going to matter there. Our surrender here will produce some sort of reward there. The work for Him is not what saves us, of course, but it matters once we are.

So then what are the rewards related to? The simple answer: our impact for Christ on people … loving our neighbor through our love for Him, as He told us to do in such simple terms. Ministering to the “least of these,” as if to Him, as He defined so clearly for us. We tend to make His will and the Gospel hard to discern; He never did and still doesn’t.

So, what can we take to Heaven? Relationships. That’s it—our connection to and investment in the people around us.

Take a little emotional and spiritual license here and imagine for a moment some encounters in Heaven…

“Thanks for sharing and showing me Jesus for so many years.”

“Sir, thanks for making sure I was fed far away in my country, so I could stay alive and accept the Savior.”

“Thanks for always being so kind when you came through my line at the store. I knew you were different and it was a part of my journey to lead me here.”

“Thanks for all the many questions you answered about faith when I was struggling to believe.”

If we really understood today that relationships with people—from family to the 10-second encounters in public, and all in between, were all that truly mattered here for there, what difference would that make today in…

How much we ignore anyone?

How much we rush through conversations and transactions?

How much we focus on the little picture and miss the big one?

How many divine appointments we pass up, because we just aren’t paying attention?

We live on a mission field everywhere we are, everywhere we go. God has placed us strategically where He wants us to share Him. And what can we take to Heaven? The relationships we build today. The investments we make—in people’s lives.

“So stay awake and be prepared, for you do not know the date or moment of my return.“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going into another country, who called together his servants and loaned them money to invest for him while he was gone. —Matthew 25:13-14 TLB