Why is my generation of Christians often spiritually tepid and languid? Why can we be indistinguishable from the secular people around us? Cameron Cole has the answer—we are too earthly minded, with little or no yearning for heaven. We need to shift our paradigm. In his words, ‘most Christians live with very little awareness of their eternal trajectory’, and as a consequence our service to Christ feels ‘routine and obligatory’, ‘blah or meh’ (2).
He is not the first to make such a diagnosis. I remember as a young adult hearing Don Carson remark that western Christianity lacks clear and substantial hope—we live in and for the present age. And I live in a location on this spinning globe where it feels like heaven on earth is within touching distance, often to our loss.
Cole admits that he was deeply infected by this same disease until the accidental death of his 3-year-old son. This tragic event prompted a deep and ongoing reflection on the reality and significance of heaven, not just for his son, but for his own life and faith. This gives Heavenward a strong personal tone as Cole shares his own pain and growing hope.
Heavenward: How Eternity Can Change Your Life on Earth
Cameron Cole
Heavenward: How Eternity Can Change Your Life on Earth
Cameron Cole
Though they’re destined for eternal glory, many Christians languish in earthly mindedness. Having never set their sights on things above, they lack hope in adversity and vibrancy in their faith.
Following the unexpected loss of his firstborn child, pastor Cameron Cole’s daily focus shifted drastically heavenward. He discovered that an intentional eternal mindset can bring meaning and joy to every Christian’s life. In this heartfelt, theologically rich book, Cole draws from his personal story of grief, the apostle Paul’s letters, and the examples of believers throughout history to demonstrate how heavenly-mindedness fosters contentment, hope in suffering, motivation for missions and evangelism, commitment to morality and ethics, and no fear in death.
Christ-Centred Heaven
I resonate with Cole’s diagnosis of the malaise that infects our Christianity. I too perceive that myself and my western co-heirs with Christ often have minimal day-to-day hope in life eternal, but are heavily earth-focussed. It needs to change. As an added point, we would do well to imitate our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world whose longing for Christ’s return is palpable.
His vision of heaven is Christ-centred. Heaven is wonderful because of the presence of Jesus, reigning in glory. Cole does mention other aspects of the future, but these are rightly overshadowed by the prospect of knowing Christ, even as we are already known.
He grounds his encouragement to be heavenly minded in rich biblical theology, drawn mainly from the Apostle Paul. The central section of the book (chapters 3–7) track Paul’s teaching on the present experience of heavenly realities brought about by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Bravo! These hopes are not an exaggeration or speculative fantasy. Heavenward got me opening my Bible to trace Paul’s path. That does not mean it is a hard, technical slog; it is written for a popular audience.
Cole spells out some real life practical outworkings of heavenly mindedness, such as contentment, sanctification, hope, service, and courage (chapters 8–12). He rightly perceives that being heavenly minded has enormous earthy value.
The Wrong Paradigm
I really wanted this to be a great book I could commend to all my friends. I share Cole’s desire that we live with eager expectation, longing for our resurrection into the age to come in the new heaven and the new earth (Rev 21:1). But Cole’s pervasive language of ‘heaven’ often confused me. Although he acknowledges our ultimate future is resurrected bodies in a new creation (13–14), he usually refers to that future state as ‘heaven’. He seems unaware of people like NT Wright emphasising that the Christian eschatological hope is not ‘going to heaven when you die’, but resurrection to real physical life when Christ returns.
Cole explains the controlling paradigm of eschatology as heaven/earth, above/below. ‘Heaven’ becomes a catch-all term to cover the present spiritual reality of Christ’s rule, the intermediate state (of the souls of dead Christians) and the new creation. As a result, he often confuses these ideas.
For example, in unpacking Philippians 3:20–21, he describes our longing for the consummation of our heavenly life as occurring ‘when we meet Jesus face to face, either in heaven or at the second coming of Christ’ (58). The trouble is that Paul’s reference to the glorification of our bodies shows he only has in mind the latter. Cole also consistently conceives of the intermediate state as being a state of perfect bliss, despite the (very sparce) biblical references to the intermediate state being less than ideal (e.g. 2 Cor 5:1–5, Rev 6:9–11).
Although Paul does employ above/below language (e.g. Col 3:1–4), it seems to me that Paul’s controlling eschatological paradigm is not heaven/earth but the future/present: the future age has invaded the present age through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the sending of the Spirit. Cole predominantly works with the above/below paradigm, so his focus is heavily weighted towards the hope of going to heaven. But the New Testament rings with the hope of resurrection.
That leaves Cole’s descriptions of our hope rather thin. He does not discuss our inheritance nor the hope of glory even though these are key ideas that fuel Paul’s eager expectation. Presenting or being presented to Christ is not mentioned, despite motivating Paul’s ministry and being his primary image for what will happen at the second coming (e.g. Col 1:28). Significant passages about hope such as Romans 8:18–25 barely rate a mention either—except to be misattributed to being about the intermediate state (12).
We desperately need resources that invigorate hopeful expectation of life in God’s new creation. Most of us in the affluent west need our eyes lifted and hearts gripped by the salvation God has promised us. And those enticed by the prosperity gospel across the planet need the same. Will this book become my ‘go-to’ book to recommend to Christians who need this? No. It’s intention is right, but the execution does not work well enough.
