There have been many attempts to describe heaven. All undoubtedly fall short of the reality. We also have some misconceptions about the nature of the afterlife—although that term “afterlife” is a misconception in itself because that’s when life truly begins. C. S. Lewis addresses this in Mere Christianity:
There is no need to be worried by facetious people who try to make the Christian hope of “Heaven” ridiculous by saying they do not want “to spend eternity playing harps.”
The answer to such people is that if they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them. All the scriptural imagery (harps, crowns, gold, etc.) is, of course, a merely symbolical attempt to express the inexpressible. . . .
People who take these symbols literally might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, He meant that we were to lay eggs.
Heaven will not disappoint. Of that I am certain. How can the very presence of the One who gives life meaning be a disappointment? Lewis also notes that it’s just fine to desire heaven. As he explains in The Problem of Pain,
We are afraid that heaven is a bribe, and that if we make it our goal we shall no longer be disinterested [i.e., unselfish]. It is not so. Heaven offers nothing that a mercenary soul can desire. It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.
Those who have never humbled themselves before God would find heaven to be hell because it admits no one who lives for self. It’s made only for those who seek God’s face and rejoice to be with Him.