Book Review: Remember Heaven (Matt McCullough)

When so many of us live our lives in a constant state of urgency, stress, or anxiety, Matt McCullough’s Remember Heaven calls Christians back to something the Church once held close to the center of its faith: the stead and life-shaping hope of heaven. This is not a book about speculation, timelines, or elaborate visions of the afterlife. McCullough instead argues here that heaven is meant to be a present spiritual reality that shapes how Christians live now, in how we endure suffering, pursue holiness, and love others.

McCullough’s central argument is simple: the modern Church has largely forgotten heaven, and in forgetting heaven, we have lost one of the most powerful motivations for faithfulness and perseverance. Earlier generations of Christians spoke often about heaven. They sang about it, and comforted one another with the hope of it. Today, many Christians rarely think about it at all except at funerals. He argues that we are often of little earthly good precisely because we are not heavenly-minded enough.

One of the strengths of the book is how McCullough ties the hope of heaven to ordinary Christian life. Heaven is not presented merely as a distant reward but as a reality that reshapes our understanding of suffering, injustice, and grief. If heaven and resurrection are real, then nothing in this life is meaningless and no suffering is final. McCullough also emphasizes that the Christian hope is not simply “going to heaven when we die,” but is instead centered around the resurrection of the body and the renewal of creation. This is an important corrective to the vague, sentimental view of heaven that often dominates popular imagination. It is an exploration of the biblical theme of a restored world and resurrected bodies. Heaven, in this sense, is not an escape from creation but the restoration of it.

This book is intentionally very accessible and pastoral. McCullough writes clearly and without academic jargon, but the book is still theologically grounded and strong. The tone is encouraging and devotional, rather than simply intellectual. This is a book that would be especially helpful for all church members, small groups, and pastors. In a restless and anxious age, McCullough offers something the Church has always needed: a reason to endure and to remain faithful in all the seasons of life.