When my son was a little younger than he is today, we would play a game in which I would hid an object behind a sheet and he would believe, even if for the briefest of moments, that the object had ceased to exist.  We were able to play this game because he had not entered in to the stage of brain development necessary to understand object permanence. 

Adults understand object permanence because when they want to leave the house and they can’t find their keys, they have no problem destroying their house to find them (or at least that’s how it works in my house).  Adults know that they keys exist, they simply cannot see them yet. 

Additionally, I have never been to India, but I have no problem believing that it exists.  I have heard many people discuss it as though it exists, and can believe that all the evidence supports it.  But this doesn’t stop us from struggling with the idea of heaven, hell, and a life beyond death. 

Humans struggle with the afterlife for one reason; the afterlife REALLY matters.  My keys matter to me, and India matters exponentially more than my keys, but I don’t struggle to believe that either exists even though I can’t see them.  Eternity matters infinitely more because it will either be spent with our Lord Jesus, or without him.  The enemy will not bother to try to deceive me about India, although I believe he has moved keys around my house while I looked for them, but the truth of eternity is of far greater significance.  Even those whose place in heaven is secure are being tempted to believe otherwise because the manner in which we live will help to determine the eternity of those around us.  

Yesterday, I was able to celebrate the life of a wonderful woman of God who went home to be with the Lord.  Ann Schwarts lived a life that was fully committed to the idea that Jesus was the Way the Truth and the Life and that she would come to the Father through Him.  She knew that Heaven was real even though she had not seen it.  She knew that she would see her beloved husband again, even though he was being left here on earth a little while longer.  She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she would be taken up with the rest of the saints when she took her final breath.

Honestly, I know more people who currently reside in Heaven than have ever even been to India. 

Death is simply the door to forever.  The sooner we get that, the more seriously we will be able to take the days we have left here on earth.