“A Bigger Bucket”

Monday, March 19, 2018

If we are rewarded in heaven for our life on Earth, meaning that others will have more in heaven than others, will there be jealousy?  I feel like I would be jealous of others that were rewarded more than I in heaven.  I feel silly saying that because I would be thankful just to be in heaven at all, but I would feel like God loved others more than me.  Is it okay to feel like I would be jealous?

Sincerely,
Going Green

Dear Going Green,

It is true that the Bible talks about storing treasures up for yourself in heaven (Matt 6:19-21), but that doesn’t provide us with many details as to how those treasures work – the mechanics are a total mystery.  One analogy that seems to help people is to think of it like two people gathering water from a well; no matter the size of the container, the container will be full.  Storing up treasures in heaven has been described as “getting a bigger bucket”.  As we said though, this is simply speculation, and we wouldn’t be too dogmatic on the issue.

As for your concern of jealousy in heaven, we don’t know the mechanics of how heaven will work, but we do know that there will be no sin there (1 Cor 15:54-57).  Covetousness is a sin (Jas 4:2).  In this life, we struggle to rejoice in the joys of our fellow Christians (Rom 12:15); sometimes it stings when we see others with more than us, but the time will come when we will shuck this mortal coil, and those fleshly temptations to covet will no longer plague us.

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