The Best Thing in Heaven
By Lydia Chorpening
Even though I’ve traveled in various countries of the world, the setting that I found myself in was unlike any I had ever been in before. The surroundings were designed by care and skill. The east wall of the room was lavishly opened by windows that overlooked freshly budding tree tops and a couple of church steeples in the distance. One wall’s glass shelves displayed flowers, candles and cards which were expressions of love.
The central attraction was the precious lady that lay in the hospital bed in the hospice unit of Mercy Hospital. She had lived her life with excellence. She had learned well the lessons of love through the mistreatments and injustices which had bombarded her. She had meaningfully conveyed those values to her children and our spouses.
This precious lady was my 98 ½ year old mother. She had stretched herself beyond the expected and had waited with anticipation for my sister-in-law, Mary, to arrive from Florida. Mother seemed very clear-minded for a short time on Saturday, April 23, 2011, two days before she took her final breath on earth and was joined to the love of her life, Jesus her Lord.
I had a few minutes alone with her at her bedside as others stood around singing. We spoke of a few different things, but the one thing that makes my heart burst with joyful understanding is the wisdom she expressed in answer to one of my questions.
I asked her, “Mother, what do you think the best thing will be in heaven?” At first she seemed a bit undecided and said, “holiness, righteous…” and then she stopped and instinctively declared, “Oh, love! Love! Everyone is going to love each other! Love! Love!”
Here answer was short and to the point. It was also a total revelation of what she saw when she looked into the heavenly realm at that late hour of her life on earth.
I have been pondering her answer. Holiness and righteousness will be far overshadowed by the pure Love that God is! Scripture will confirm that my mother had a divine revelation at that moment and had passed it on to me.
The love-life that my mother lived was what preceded her display of holiness and righteous living. Her holiness was not a ‘I-have-to-do-it’ thing, but rather a spontaneous response to the love relationship she had with Jesus.
Taking a Look at Love:
When Mother said that love was the best thing in heaven, what was she talking about?
We can eliminate the giddy and mushy kind of sensuality that our society counts as love today. An example of why we can discard sensuality as a part of her answer of “love is the best thing in heaven” is this. My mother had suffered the injustice of divorce and for many years lived a life of a woman still married. Though the papers said she was divorced, she never considered herself that way. She remained true to her marriage vows even though she had little contact with my dad through the years.
I believe Dad had made his peace with God before he passed away, but it was after that my mother finally joined the single’s group in her church. Mother was 91 at the time!
Rather than asking what love is, we may ask, “who is Love and how does He relate to me?”
I John 4:8 tells us that God is love. By this truth we can clearly understand why my mother gave me this answer. She was already seeing into the heavens and declared what she was sure of. She comprehended what John was writing about in I John 1:1,3 “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life…That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
Love is the most powerful force in the world. It is the greatest of God’s commandments (Matthew 22:37-40). All the commandments of the Old Testament are fulfilled in the one word, “love” (II John 6). Love is the greatest thing that has been left us (I Corinthians 13:13).
Love was born on earth in the form of human man, so that we might believe on Him as our Lord and our Savior, receiving our salvation. Love paid a price for our sins that love never owed, for love never sinned. Love paid a debt that we could never pay.
Since God is love, love was in the beginning. Since God is love, God is everywhere present, in all time and in all space. Love supersedes the manifestation of spiritual gifts ( I Corinthians 13:2). Since God is love, love is eternal, for love never ends or fails (I Corinthians 13:8).
My mother’s lifestyle left us an example to pass on to future generations. These examples will be best taught by our walk. Mother walked her talk. She lived a life of selflessness and of meager earthly resources, but she exemplified a life of generosity. She always looked for ways to give and never assumed she should receive a reward for her deeds of kindness.
Mother was forgiving of those that hurt her. Her best defense was her song. When people misunderstood her she started singing a love song to Jesus. It was those songs that led her to her life’s end. The last song we heard her sing was a line from an old German hymn which she repeated over and over for more than five minutes. The translation of the words where: “Has His life for me given!” Over and over she sang this line just before her lips turned silent! She was unashamed of declaring her True Love as she openly admired Him.
