Who are looking forward to seeing in heaven? Many would say the Lord, or most people would say some great man or woman of faith that we read about in the Bible. How wonderful it would be to speak with the apostle Paul? Or to ask Daniel what it was like in the lion’s den? Perhaps ancestors of ours that passed long ago that we never met on earth. While these are worthy answers and I agree with them, I would have a different answer to the question, “who are you looking forward to seeing in heaven?”
I can’t wait to see my wife and kids.
Statistically speaking, women seem to have longer life spans than their husbands. I certainly know more widows than widowers, so I am well aware of the fact that I may pass from this life before my wife and certainly hope so before my kids. I also know that once I’m gone, I can do no more to affect their spiritual life. I can’t open and read the Bible with them, pray with them, attend worship with them, and guide them once I’m gone.
If I hope to see them in heaven someday, I need to do all I can, while I can, to increase that hope. Some husbands/fathers neglect the spiritual responsibility as the head of the house. A husband may encourage his wife to dress inappropriately in public to “show her off” to other men. A father may let his children “experience” the world. The man believes he is obeying God and yet he is failing miserably. The souls of his family are in danger, if not his own soul.
A husband is to treat his wife the way Christ treats the church (Ephesians 5:25-33). A father is to raise his children in the faith (Ephesians 6:4). How sad it would be to know the judgment day has come and gone and to never see the people that mean the most to you on this earth.
But let us look at it from another point of view…
What am I doing to make sure that my wife and kids will see ME in heaven?
There are some men that have, for the lack of a better term, “secret” sins. These could be sins that their family does not know about. This might be an addiction to pornography. It may be an extramarital affair during business trips. It may just be anger and hatred they harbor in their hearts for others. If we go back to the scenario where the man dies before the wife, she may believe her husband is waiting for her in the heavenly abode. She never knew what her husband was up to all those years. Suppose she holds on to the hope of seeing him again for another 20 years. How sad it would be for him to be in torment, eternally separated from his wife!
When the angels carry my godly wife into paradise, I want to be there to rejoice with her!
When my children see Jesus face to face, I want to be standing right beside them!
Who do YOU want to see in heaven?
A Good Word For The Day 