Piper’s use of eternal regrets to get people to relieve suffering reminds me of evangelists I used to hear years ago.  They would warn everyone that they were going to be miserable when they got to heaven when they realized that Uncle John and Aunt Mary weren’t there, and it would all be because they didn’t witness to them.  Being miserable in heaven was the motivator used to get people to witness to others.

A couple of years ago, I decided to add some devotional reading to my daily time of Bible reading and prayer.  I read everyone from Abraham Kuyper to Eugene Peterson.  One day, I picked up John Piper’s, Life as a Vapor.  I was disappointed in what he wrote in the second article, “Suffering, Mercy, and Heavenly Regret.”  More than disappointed, I believe his position is erroneous.

In the article, Piper details various atrocities in recent history, and mentions suffering from natural disasters, epidemics, and even personal family pain and sadness.  He doesn’t want to live a self-serving life; to do so would result in regrets throughout eternity.  The reality of these regrets would be because in order for a person to enjoy the saving work of Christ, he would need to remember all his sin for which Christ had died.  He says we will feel regretful joy.  Granted, heaven will have joy, but alongside it for eternity will be this regret.  The article closes with an appeal for the reader to live a purposeful, God-honoring life, relieving the suffering with every available means.

While I share Piper’s concern about Christians responding to suffering around them and in the world, I don’t share his belief that there will be regrets in heaven throughout eternity, or that this is a motivator we should be using to call Christians to not live self-absorbed lives.

In heaven, we won’t have to carry a catalog of our sin and a perfect understanding of its extent, in order to appreciate God’s grace and the forgiveness of our sin.  Even on earth, this isn’t what God wants.  We are to accept and enjoy forgiveness and move on, not mulling over every wrong so as to appreciate grace.  Answering a question on his website, Randy Alcorn cites the judgment mentioned in 2 Cor. 5:10 as a time we will experience regret, but that it will not go on and on.  Ed Welch, in his blog with the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, asserts that regrets are what we need to be rid of in this life; see his excellent article, “If Only…Living With Regrets.”    (Editor’s note:  this was the most viewed post at CCEF in 2011.)

In another article, “More on Living With Regrets,” Welch makes the point that regrets won’t exist in heaven, so we need to certainly address getting rid of them on earth.  While I grant that there will be differences in rewards in heaven, this does not necessitate regrets.  As Berkhof says, heaven is a place where the “joy of each individual will be perfect and full” (Systematic Theology).

Piper’s use of eternal regrets to get people to relieve suffering reminds me of evangelists I used to hear years ago.  They would warn everyone that they were going to be miserable when they got to heaven when they realized that Uncle John and Aunt Mary weren’t there, and it would all be because they didn’t witness to them.  Being miserable in heaven was the motivator used to get people to witness to others.

There is a better way.  In 2 Cor. 5, that was cited earlier about judgment, there is also given a motivation which we are to press upon Christians, to spur them on to living self-denying, purposeful lives.  The motivation is in verses 14 and 15; it is the love of Christ for us.  It is our remembering our calling not to live for ourselves, but for Christ who died for us.  This is the motivation we need.  This is the motivation to which the Scriptures point us.  This, together with all the blessings and grace we have in Christ, is more than enough.

Pete Hurst is a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America and serves as Senior Pastor at Calvary Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA), Hampton, VA.  He blogs at God’s Fool, where this article first appeared; it is used with permission.