John 14:6 says, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (NIV).
Jesus is vey clear when He speaks about the way to Heaven.
You can’t get to Heaven by participating in humanitarian activities.
You won’t pass through those pearly gates by denying yourself the sinful pleasures of this life.
And Jesus won’t pick you for His Kingdom team because you go to church every Sunday and teach Sunday school.
Those are all good things and I would encourage you to do them, but there is only one way to Heaven.
The way to Heaven is to believe in Jesus Christ as your one and only Savior.
That’s it. His grace is enough in your weakness.
In our individualistic, achievement-based culture, this can be a hard concept to grasp. We are trained from a very early age that we have to work for what we have and we will only be successful if we push our way to the top. Success goes to the active, not the passive.
Hard as it may be, we need to change our mindsets. Jesus came to earth, died, and rose again so we can experience true life with Him in Heaven.
The work is already done. We don’t have to strive and we don’t have to prove ourselves. Jesus did all.
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Excellent thoughts. I think you have it right here. Americans are "trained" to believe that hard work will be rewarded with success. (Though we see, more and more these days, that many are taking the way of stealing, etc., to "get to the top.") Perhaps that explains why Americans believe that good works will land you in heaven—somehow!
ReplyDeleteMike