Heaven On My Mind

Objective
Heaven can seem distant and hard to imagine, shaped by movies, stories, and personal experiences. Students will understand why we long for Heaven and how gratitude for God’s promise of eternal life should shape our daily lives.

Warm Up
Hand out the Student Guide and have your group turn to the section “Pictures of Heaven.” Give group members time to finish this section and then come back together.

Host an “art show” where they can display their work and explain why they drew (or tried to draw!) what they did. All levels of artistry are welcome!

• Where did you get your image of what Heaven is like?
• Where do most people get their ideas about Heaven?
• What is good about imagining how Heaven will be?
• What could be the downside of trying to imagine Heaven?

Transition
The Bible gives us the most accurate, though far from complete, picture of Heaven. Through a song, through the Bible, and our discussion today, there will be a time for us to identify reasons why Heaven is on our minds and be thankful for God’s tremendous gift of eternal life and salvation.

The Video
Direct your group to the “Thinking About Heaven” section of their Student Guide. Encourage your group members to complete the exercise while they listen to the song.

Play the music video for “Heaven On My Mind” by TobyMac.

When the song has finished, have different people share their responses and follow up with these questions:

• What is meant by “My heart’s on things above while keepin’ two feet on the ground”?
• Why is this important?
• How do we know this place is not our home?

The lyrics say, “this life is like a vapor, but we got every day to live and love.”

• How do we make the most of every day by keeping our eyes on others and yet keep our “eyes always up”?

Transition
In this song, TobyMac reminds us to keep our focus on Heaven while living with purpose here on Earth. But what does that really mean? Let’s dig into Scripture to see what God says about our eternal home.

Bible study
Read the passage together as a group then have each person find a partner to complete the “The Biblical Heaven” exercise. Give the pairs about ten minutes to complete the exercise and then come back together.

Read Revelation 21:1-4

• How do you think the new Heaven and Earth will differ from what we have now?
• What is significant about the new Jerusalem coming down?
• Why is it important that there will be no more tears, crying, pain, or death in Heaven?
• How does keeping our minds on Heaven help us navigate grief and struggles on Earth?

There is an old quote, “So heavenly minded they are of no earthly good.”

• Given this statement, why is it important to maintain a balance between our focus on Heaven and our responsibilities on Earth?

Wrap Up
Ask everyone in your group to offer one way to be more intentional about keeping Heaven on their minds while sharing this hope with others.

Encourage students to think of practical ways to reflect Heaven’s values in their daily lives—whether by showing kindness, extending forgiveness, or living with an eternal mindset.

Challenge them to find one tangible action they can take this week to demonstrate their faith and share the hope of Heaven with someone else.

Close in prayer, thanking God for the promise of Heaven and asking for wisdom and courage to live in a way that honors Him on Earth.

Playlist
This song is featured on “The Linc: Longing For Heaven” Spotify playlist – which is the perfect way to remind your students what you’ve taught them in this session. To share it with them, click the live link on the web version of this study.