Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. 2 Peter 1:13
I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop
in that bright land where we’ll never grow old
And someday yonder, we will never more wander,
but walk the streets that are purest gold. –Ira F. Stanphill
I grew up singing those words in church. Did you? Yet even at a young age, even before I was old enough to be baptized, there was something about the song that bothered me. I just couldn’t bring myself to sing these two lines:
“I want a gold one (cottage, house, mansion) that’s silver lined,”
and
“I want a mansion, a robe, and a crown.”
Even as a child, I felt like there was something demanding or maybe a bit entitled about saying I wanted those things. We should have faith that God will keep His promises, so I have no problem with the song generally, but I can’t bring myself to sing the words “I want” when I sing that song. As far as I’m concerned, I would be very happy to live in a mud hut or under a rock as long as I get to be in God’s presence eternally. I say that facetiously because, of course, to be in God’s presence is to dwell in beauty. Just as there is no need of the sun in heaven because the Lord God is the light (Revelation 21:23; 22:5), there is no need for literal houses; God Himself will be our home. Jesus’s promise of mansions was a rhetorical device, as are golden streets and pearly gates.
But getting back to the hymn, at this point in my life, I have another problem with the song: my inability to relate to the overall point. The song is about going through this earthly life with few physical luxuries. For those who live in poverty, it is probably a very relatable song, and when they sing that they want a mansion in heaven, it may come from a place, not of entitlement, but of joyful expectation! But never having been impoverished, I’m not sure how to sing such a hymn without feeling either hypocritical or ungrateful.
I’ve lived in some big houses, slept in some expensive beds, and never gone without a meal unless it was by choice. I don’t feel entitled to those things, and I certainly don’t feel entitled to luxury in heaven.
Nevertheless, songs like this can serve to remind those who are comfortable in this life of two things:
- not to trust in uncertain riches (1 Timothy 6:17) because “riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle,” (Proverbs 23:5).
and
- that rich or poor, we’re supposed to be “pilgrims in search of a city.” We don’t need to hold on too tightly to our blessings but to use them to serve others, to offer them up as “a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God,”(Philippians 4:18).
It’s also a good reminder to sing the line; “I find here no permanent dwelling.” This is literally true for everyone. We may plan to live in a certain house for the rest of our days on earth, yet there are no guarantees. That house could be destroyed by fire or a tornado, or we could be forced out by war or financial straits. But in 2 Peter 1:13, Peter refers to the physical body as a “tent” that must one day be put off. None of us has a permanent dwelling on this earth, period, because some day we will die. Our eternal residence from that point on, as followers of Jesus, will be in a mansion (figurative though it may be) in heaven.
In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:2
If Jesus offers me a robe and a crown in heaven, who am I to refuse? But I’ll be satisfied just to be there.
Dear God and Father in heaven, You have provided so much for me. Some people You have blessed with even more, and others have much less. But You offer the gift of eternal life to all who believe and obey the truth. So help me to lay up my treasures in heaven and be a good steward while serving You in this physical body. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Related Reading: Thoughts On Heaven From A Ten-Year-Old
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