The “Unappeasable Want”

C.S. Lewis said in The Problem of Pain, “There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven; but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else. . . . It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want.”[1]

Deep down inside, we all feel the tug of Heaven. We know there is more to life than what we’re experiencing right now.

Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:1–2 NLT).

Heaven is a real place for real people to do real things. It is not a watered-down, diluted version of earth. Many of us have a strange concept of Heaven that movies and songs have reinforced. We assume that we’ll sit around in Heaven on big, fluffy clouds and take long naps.

But that is not the real Heaven. That is not the biblical Heaven. The real Heaven is a place.

When Jesus hung on the cross, two criminals hung on each side of Him. One of these men realized that he was in trouble as he faced eternity. So he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom” (Luke 23:42 NLT).

Jesus told him, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise” (verse 43 NLT). Heaven is a paradise.

On one occasion an angry mob stoned the apostle Paul and left him for dead. Scholars believe this was the moment Paul died, went to Heaven, and came back again.

Paul later described it this way: “I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell” (2 Corinthians 12:2–4 NLT).

Think of the most beautiful place you have seen. Heaven is far greater than that. It is Paradise.

Yes, Heaven is real, and we can know with certainty that we’ll go to Heaven when we die. The Bible tells us, “For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16 NLT).

We call this hope, and we need hope today. In fact, experts have described Generation Z as the hopeless generation.

If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you can have hope. Don’t put your hope in technology or in material things. Don’t put your hope in politicians. And don’t even put your hope in religion. Hope has a name, and it’s Jesus Christ. He is ready to change the course of your life.

[1] C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain. (New York: Macmillan, 1962), 145

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