What is heaven like? Will we know our loved ones when we get to heaven? Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven using parables. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who planted a field. The kingdom of heaven is like a pearl. Despite these teachings, we don’t have a concrete understanding of what the kingdom of heaven is like.

So, what does the Bible tell us about heaven? Scripture says, the kingdom of heaven is where God is the ruler, where God’s will is done, that exists now and not yet. However, when we think of heaven, we generally mean something specific in the afterlife. For example, a place of paradise, reward, happiness, or freedom from pain.

Many of us have likely formed beliefs about heaven, but we really can’t know if we’re right or wrong until we die. Jesus was the only one who died and came back to tell us about it, and he didn’t say much. Instead, Jesus focused on inviting us to follow him. Jesus repeatedly told us about God’s love, and we are like God when we are at our best—loving, peace-filled, courageous, and giving.

Ultimately, we can believe in the next life because Jesus said it was so. We can only trust that we will have closeness with God and that we will recognize our loved one who are already there. Guessing about what heaven is like from this side of the gave changes nothing, except everything that we believe about heaven in the next life affects our lives today. Like Jesus said, when we believe that heaven is where God’s will is done, then we start living today by doing God’s will today

God, how can we have faith in you? And how do we keep faith in times of difficulty? Trying to answer these questions of faith is a feat that leads to more questions. God, are you real? And if you are real, are you worth my loyalty?

At the start of the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s, everyone believed in God and people made decisions based on which church was truly following God. Then things changed. Use of the printing press spread, the Scientific Revolution began, democracy took root, and people started asking questions. For the first time, they stopped automatically assuming God existed.

Having faith begins with an awareness that both transcendent and imminent thinking exist. Transcendent thinking is the realm of spirituality, ideas, and cosmic order. The focus of imminent thinking is on earthiness, physicality, and natural order. In other words, it’s a comparison of things we can and cannot see.

In a quest for a perfect understanding of God, some people reject everything that is not religious and they do not tolerate questions. This behavior never works, because Jesus is the only person in Scripture who had perfect faith. Everyone else doubted or failed in some way. Trusting that God is real is to have confidence in something we cannot see.

If God is real, is God worth my loyalty? When we acknowledge that God is really the creator of the universe and the Savior who comforts and protects, loyalty to God makes sense. The question about faith in times of difficulty is really a question about loyalty. However, we have trust issues when bad things happen and God doesn’t intervene. Ultimately, God knows things we don’t and that power makes God worth our loyalty.

If you have questions and doubts about faith, it’s okay. God never promised to make our lives easy or pain free. Instead, God’s promise was to be with us, to comfort us, and save us for a mission worthy of our whole lives.

Why do you allow suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people? Because these two questions to God persist, suffering is one of the most common reasons for rejecting God. You've heard the statement, "I can't believe in a God who would let that happen."

The attempt to make sense of God's role in suffering is a monumental task. Sometimes the good we do leads to suffering and sometimes suffering just happens at random. We want suffering to make sense, but it can end up leading to more questions. There is an assumption that bad things should only happen to bad people, so when bad things happen to good people, we wonder if those people are actually bad.

When suffering occurs, we're focused on who is to blame. Because we're invested in the idea that bad things happen for a reason, we blame victims or we find a way to justify the suffering. Jesus wasn't interested in assigning blame. John's Gospel describes Jesus's encounter with a man who was born blind. When the disciples asked whether the man or his parents sinned, Jesus replied, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him." Then he healed the man.

Jesus takes a different approach to suffering. In John 11, he weeps with sisters Mary and Martha after learning their brother Lazarus has died. Jesus didn't blame the sisters for the death of Lazarus. Instead, Jesus grieved with Mary and Martha. In other words, he joined them in their suffering. When Jesus tells us, "Take up your cross and follow me," his message is twofold. Jesus is saying you will suffer—and I will with be with you. When we suffer, God joins us instead of taking our pain or grief away. A grieving widow once summed up the relationship between God and suffering when she told a group of friends, "Without suffering, there is no resurrection."