“Many Christians are more curious about whether or not their dog will be in heaven than seeing the face of Jesus there.”

If you can’t say amen, say ouch.

That’s from my friend Cameron Cole’s new book, Heavenward: How Eternity Can Change Your Life on Earth (Crossway). Cameron is founder of Rooted, a ministry dedicated to fostering gospel-centered student ministry.

True to this opening statement, he says, “To long to be in heaven is to long to be with Christ.” In his book, he aims to stoke the fires of our longing for eternity with Christ.

Sometimes I’ll explain hell this way: If you don’t want to be with Christ, then you won’t want heaven. Or, if you’re too much in love with this world, or expecting too much from this world, you won’t want heaven. Or if you think you’re basically good and the world basically works well for you, you might not see the need for heaven—or at least not hell, where God judges the sins that seem to go unpunished on earth.

Even so, we were made with eternity in our hearts. Cameron writes, “Our hearts were made for perfect love and perfect fellowship. Nothing short of this standard will quench the pain and yearning, and nothing close to this standard will come to us in the fallen earth.”

Cameron joined me on Gospelbound to discuss how he envisions heaven, the biggest barriers to living the heavenward life, modern-day Epicureanism, the limitations of maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain, and more. When Cameron’s oldest son died, he began to see how often we live for trivial, even good things—such as pets.

“If we really have an intensified sense of eternity, it really does change the way we live,” Cameron told me. “It gives us a greater sense of urgency with prayer and eternity and mission, and it sanctifies and purifies the way that we live our lives.”