The Wrong Map

Recently, I received a coupon via email for a local coffee shop. I had the afternoon free and couldn’t resist five dollars off. Plugging the name of the coffee shop into my phone, I noticed there was a new location a few minutes closer. I hopped in my car, turned on my favorite podcast, and looked forward to enjoying a hot matcha latte with my 1869 copy of Charles Spurgeon.

Several minutes later, I pulled into the strip center where Google promised me I would find a latte with my name on it. However, I soon noticed something disturbing: a large banner roped to the fence that read, “Coffee Shop—coming soon.”

What a disappointment! All that way for a coffee shop that didn’t even exist. I drove around the side to confirm what I knew was true, and it looked like another couple scouting out the place had made the same blunder.

I ended up having enough time to drive to the location I knew, and as I sipped my latte, it occurred to me how often we think we know the destination when we don’t. The concept of heaven does not lack for talkers of it; how tragic that its primary Attraction is largely either spit upon or forgotten.

Just like me thinking I was going to a place that turned out to not be real, how many of us think we’re going to heaven, but it’s a heaven that doesn’t exist? Rather than God’s heaven, ours is a Christ-less utopia of our own making with a god who won’t condemn us for the sins we cherish and self we love. Yet if we think such a heaven is worth the trouble of earth, our desires are tragically not high enough, for we’ll arrive only to find that we had the wrong information and the wrong map. We will find a place that is not as we thought, and we cannot so easily plug in the right location and begin again.

I had not visited this coffee shop before. I didn’t know if the place to which I was headed actually existed, but I had received a coupon—an invitation, if you will—and assumed it came from someone. I assumed the place was real, but that didn’t mean my map was accurate. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had taken someone along who either had been there before or could warn me if I was wrong. What time I would have saved! But I didn’t.

How many of us know people who are headed for a certain heaven yet are spending their resources and time traveling to the wrong version of it? I have news. The heaven they are pursuing has a name that starts with “h” and rhymes with “bell.” It is a real place, but it is not heaven. Kenneth Boa writes that there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who seek God and those who seek to avoid God, and both will be successful in the end. Likewise, in the words of C. S. Lewis in The Great Divorce, there are those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” Yes, our friends may have received an invitation (Lk. 11:9-10), but Jesus is the only Way to the only heaven that won’t disappoint (Jn. 14:6). The good news is that He has been there before and offers to ride with us and drive for us to show us and to be the Way.

Let me end with a few travel tips.

How to Know You Are Following the Right Map

1. Cultivate a desire for the Lord of the biblical heaven.

Think of Him (Heb. 3:1). Commune with Him (1 Thess. 5:17). Remain near your Guide, for heaven is less of a place and more of a Person, and He will guard you from corrupted visions of alternative heavens. The one who loves God is known by God (1 Cor. 8:3). If you do nothing else, know your Christ and love Him (Phil. 3:8), that He may never say on His doorstep, “Depart from Me. I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23). He has been to the heaven you are seeking. He knows the way because He is the Way, and He will keep you from faltering (Ps. 66:9).

2. Commit to knowing the Guidebook.

Psalm 37:31 reads, “The Law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip.” When we commit to knowing what will keep us on the narrow way, our steps do not slip. Even when we seem to be walking through a fog or in the shadow of the night, God’s Word is the Light that reveals our way and exposes any obstacles that may have otherwise tripped us in the darkness (Ps. 119:105). Guidebooks keep us on track even when we struggle to see. It may not always make sense, but we know the Lord of the Guidebook (Prov. 3:5-6).

3. Commune with those who are farther along on the journey.

The journey is long, and a solo trip is never what God intended. Compare notes with those who seem farther long, can encourage you, can remind you of the Guidebook, and can affirm that you are going in the right direction.

4. Continue prayerfully on the Way of Holiness (Is. 35:8).

Hebrews 12:14 says that “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” We might expect it to say, “without Christ” or “without grace” but it doesn’t. As J.C. Ryle notes, “Without holiness on earth we shall never be prepared to enjoy heaven. Heaven is a holy place. The Lord of heaven is a holy Being. The angels are holy creatures. Holiness is written on everything in heaven... How shall we ever be at home and happy in heaven if we die unholy?” Not legalism, but holiness, is practice for the lifestyle, habits, and character of heaven. Beware of those who seek a different paradise, have a different view of yours, or propose a different way to get there. Be sure, the Author has included everything you need and made no plans for amendments.

If we follow God’s map, when we arrive, there will be no renovations still underway. It will not be an unopened location. There will be no “coming soon” banner eclipsing the shine of the gates of pearl, for we have a word that is certain and follow a map that every step of the way has proven itself flawless (Prov. 30:5).

The soul on earth is an immortal guest,

Compelled to starve at an unreal feast;

A pilgrim panting for the rest to come;

An exile, anxious for his native home.

Hannah More