The importance of heaven: a life lesson from Everybody Loves Raymond

In an episode of the excellent sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray's brother Robert is faced with a moral dilemma because he for once has a beautiful woman, Stephana, who is interested in having sex with him.  Robert, a lonely middle-aged man with serious fears of commitment, makes the morally correct decision to not get into a physical relationship with Stephana, despite her overwhelming beauty and clear willingness.  As Stephana leaves in anger from his apartment after Robert informs her that they shouldn't see each other anymore, she taunts him one last time with the beauty that he had chosen to abstain from, after Robert had shouted at her, "I did the right thing, morally".  After her taunt, Robert says to himself, "there had better be a heaven".  Sitcoms are meant to be funny, first and foremost, but in this case Robert is also hitting upon an important moral principle.  The morality that we live by is not limited to this lifetime; it is affected by, and carries over into, the afterlife.  Because Robert was a Christian, a Catholic to be precise, he believed that making morally correct decisions was more important that worldly pleasures.  That Robert is counting upon heaven to recompense him for his sacrifice is not a cop-out, but a wise perspective on his part.  Too many Christians live too much of their lives as if this life is really all that they believe there is.  When we instead consider eternity as we think about today, our perspective changes, what we place value in changes, what we focus upon changes, and we find motivation and encouragement that will help us to achieve victory over temptation as well as endurance in our acts of righteousness.  Robert chose to do the right thing, he did so in the hope that there is indeed a heaven, fortunately for him and all of us, he is right.