Why Heaven?

This morning, during our devotion time, my roommate asked me what I thought heaven would be like. I responded by stating that I don't care, that I haven't thought about it lately, and don't really feel like I need to. Of course, I then went on to explain the reason why and a little more about how I came to this conclusion. I realized maybe saying I don't care isn't completely the right words but I was trying to make a point, which I will now explain to you.

Growing up in a Christian home, attending a Christian private school, and then attending a Christian college has given me different ideas, viewpoints, and thoughts about heaven. I have come to the conclusion that I will just stick to the basics of what is in the Bible about heaven versus trying to sit and imagine or theorize how it will be or what it will look like. I would like to be content with just that and not add my own thoughts or another person's thoughts and theories.
About a month or two ago someone posed a question that really made me think and ultimately was the reason behind why I responded to my roommate the way that I did. The question was something along the lines of "would you serve God if there was nothing after this earth, if once you died that was it, no heaven?" This question really got me thinking, of course the reality is there is a heaven, but I have been thinking about it a lot, really pondering what I would do if there wasn't. And I came to the conclusion that I would still serve God and there are many reasons behind why I would still serve God.

The first of these is the simple fact that even though throughout my life I have heard a lot about heaven, I never really have thought about it much. I realized this is because it has never been the driving force behind why I serve God. There have been times when I served with the idea of heaven as an end goal but it is not the driving force for my service to God. I am human though, so I obviously still want to go to heaven, I want there to be no pain and sorrow, but what that place looks like and where that place will be is not important to me. I have seen and experienced God on earth (of course I can't fathom what it will be like to experience Him in heaven), thus I want to serve Him because I have known more peace, love, joy, happiness with Him than without Him.
Secondly, I am content when I am having good fellowship with God, when my relationship is in the "right" place with God (if there is such a thing as the "right" place). Yes, I definitely have my moments of discontentment but when it comes down to it, I have moments of peace on earth, moments of enjoyment and pleasure, and moments that lack in pain and sorrow. Although, I would love to have more of those moments, I relish those moments and hold on to them as long as I can.

Thirdly, I enjoy the pains of life (okay, so maybe not when they are happening but after). They are the moments when I get to draw close to God, when I get to see myself for who I am, when I see that I need God's strength, grace, love, mercy, faithfulness, etc., when my relationship with God grows, and when I get to see a little more of who God is. I don't think I would want to give up these moments, I want to experience and feel even if it hurts at times.
Lastly, I don't want to miss serving God now. I don't want to be so focused on getting to heaven that I miss now. I desire to see God's fruit in my life, I don't want to be a person that serves in order to get to heaven. I desire to serve because God has put a piece of His heart in me; I want to walk in wisdom and redeem the time (Ephesians 5), even though I have and will continue to fail at times. If I am busy thinking about heaven and what it will be like, then I feel like I am wasting time. Not that I don't think heaven isn't important because it is prevalent in the Bible and we do go to heaven or hell. However, why do I need to theorize, dream, or think about what heaven will be like? My thoughts are I don't because I don't want my life to revolve around what will happen later, I want my life to revolve around the now.

For example, when we desire something like a nice relaxing vacation or maybe a dream vacation. We sit around a dream about it or maybe we even look up information and start planning, yet the vacation may not happen for several years. In the mean time, we miss out on something else we could have been doing. Maybe that something else is just spending some extra time with a friend in need or building a stronger relationship with a family member. The point is we are so focused on this one dream, that we miss what is going on in our life now. Heaven could be a day away for me or it could be 50 years, so living spending time thinking or talking about what it will be like just doesn't seem important to me. I don't want to live for heaven, I want to live for God. Yes, eternity with no pain and sorrow is awesome! And I will admit it is nice to know there is more than just here on earth. But right now I am on earth, eternity is like the vacation that is years away. Why do I not care about what heaven will be like? I desire for my life to be about serving God and drawing others to do the same because God created us and loves us beyond our comprehension. I may never be perfect at service but I am okay with persevering and trying to the best of my ability.
So I pose the same question to you, "Would you serve God if there was nothing after this earth, if once you died that was it, no heaven?"