REVIEW: “Remember Heaven” by Matthew McCullough

 

About the book...

★ Title: Remember Heaven: Meditations on the World to Come for Life in the Meantime

★ Author: Matthew McCullough

★ Genre: Christian nonfiction

My Personal Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

📖Synopsis

How the Hope of Heaven Shapes Our Lives as Christians in the Meantime

What we expect from our future has tremendous power over our experience in the meantime―that’s why the Bible places the hope of heaven at the center of the Christian life. But even if we affirm the reality of our heavenly future, we often struggle to long for heaven, much less to connect the promises of the world to come to the concrete details of life in this world as it is. If and when we think about heaven at all, it’s easy to think of it like an insurance policy that will be there when we need it. But the Bible defines our future hope as an inheritance―a trust fund that is certain, inexhaustible, and freely accessible here and now.

In this book, Matthew McCullough offers a series of meditations that model how to draw on the hope of heaven for everyday life in the meantime. Chapters connect specific struggles of life in this world―from dissatisfaction and inadequacy to anxiety, grief, indwelling sin and more―to specific promises of the world to come. Drawing on insights from Christian writers of the past, McCullough shows how the Bible uses the hope of heaven to help us now.

💭My Thoughts

4.5 stars. An excellent book on heaven from a truly biblical perspective! 

Whenever I see a book all about heaven, I'm typically a little skeptical because lots of them have many guesses and opinions. However, with this book, I appreciated how biblically rooted it was, loaded with passages of Scripture rather than meandering speculation. Instead of focusing on the things we don't know about heaven, the author takes a good look at what we do know from God's Word and expounds upon that richly. 

As with many other Crossway books, I really enjoyed the setup and organization of this book. Chapters 2, 4 and 6 were my favorite chapters; chapter 2 particularly spoke to me in such a profound way, because I have always struggled with how God can see me as righteous, and I think the author dealt with that topic and other topics in such a clear, beautiful way. I certainly underlined and highlighted my copy quite heavily, which I consider the defining mark of a helpful book to me ;)

I believe I enjoyed this book a bit more than the author's first book, Remember Death, although I would recommend that one as well. Both are well-done, thought-provoking reads that I believe so many Christians would benefit from. 

All in all, this book stirred my heart, helped me cultivate my longing for the world to come, and encouraged me in so many ways to strive to live faithfully and fruitfully on this earth as I remember heaven. 

Some favorite quotes...

🟄"What will seeing God be like for us? For all we don't know, it is safe to say that we will be completely absorbed by a beauty of which all other beauty anywhere else on earth is just the faintest shadow."

🟄"We will never see the glory of Christ more clearly than when we look at Him through tears."

🟄"There is no true peace without hope and no true hope without heaven."

🟄The worst thing that could happen to us happened to Jesus instead so that it would never happen to us."

🟄"[Our] inheritance is undefiled. In this world every good thing comes tainted. More often than not, it is tainted by me-by my greedy desire for me, my preoccupation with what others have that I don't, my unrealistic expectations, or simply by my knowledge that no good thing lasts forever. In heaven all joy is pure."

🟄"There is no future outcome, no matter how fearsome, in which God will not be with you."

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Bookishly yours, 

Lottie M. 

*I received this book for free from the publisher (Crossway) in exchange for this honest review.