You raise him from a small puppy, a friend for many years, finally laid to rest in your backyard with many tears. When you arrive in heaven you hear, “Oh no, those things were for your earthly life only, even your memories of that pet will be erased.”
Your loving spouse, both of you spent a large part together, and the best part, in faithful service to the Lord, but when you walk into the Kingdom of the One you love above all others, you will no longer look upon that beloved spouse with adoring eyes or want to spend any more time with them than you would anyone else in heaven.
You will not desire to be close to your children in heaven, for all will be loved by you equally.
“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:11)
There are actually people that believe these things written above, and when I offer this verse to them the best they can say is that our pleasures will be changed. Does that sound like a loving caring Creator towards those He has chosen to be His own throughout all eternity to you?
Why would I be standing in heaven right beside my lovely wife and turn to the stranger next to me, my brother or sister in Christ that I love with a love I never knew on this planet, and ask them if they would like to go and explore some of the planets the Lord made? Our beloved pets have no soul, but we have eternal ones, and when we have the time, we will be with those pets who were our family and friends, and when we have something else to do, they will simply disappear, reappearing once again when we desire to be with them.
The memory of your loved ones here will never be lost to you, in all the ages to come, your spouse, if you both served Christ, will be your spouse forever, your children that you bore here and were saved by the grace of God you will always know as your children throughout eternity. How do I know all this? Because there will be pleasures forevermore, and God does not remove the gifts He has given to us.
If He were to wipe our memories clear, as some wrongly suppose Isaiah 65:17 to mean, “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” then how would I recognize my Savior, how would I ever recall the sinful person I was and be able to glorify and praise Him because of His grace and mercy by calling me to Himself?
Perhaps you believe I am reading between the lines here, but I ask you, does love remove what is precious to us, does it take away free will, our free will to love, will we be made into the image of the Son of God just to forget how we got that way? Do you see yourself forgetting those marks in His hands and feet, forgetting the cross, forgetting the price that was paid for you?
I cannot fully explain “love more” or “love less,” but I do know this, the One I love above all else died for me and I do not believe that He ever wants me to forget that.
New friends in Heaven? Of course, everywhere all the time with my beautiful wife? Of course not, but she will throughout all eternity hold a special place in my heart, it is her that I want to experience all of what is to come throughout all of the ages.
Eternal love my friends is one of those pleasures forevermore.
