A couple weeks ago I posted a fun Christmas trivia quiz to test your knowledge of the Christmas Nativity Story, the Biblical account of Jesus’ birth. If you haven’t taken it yet, give it a shot and see how you do! Knowing the details of the Bible is important and useful for a number of reasons, but head knowledge of Bible stories mean nothing if what you know in your noggin doesn’t creep its way into your heart. If you aced the Christmas trivia quiz, but don’t know Jesus Himself, you are no better off when you arrive at the Judgement Seat one day than the person who didn’t answer any questions correctly. Facts and stories don’t save: Jesus does. Consider this quote from the Christmas story, of when the angel announces to Joseph that Mary would bear a child: “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) Jesus will save His people from their sins. A person, will save us, not knowledge about the person. That’s an important distinction to understand. That’s amazing news! Salvation is so much simpler than many people try to make it. There is no checklist of rules to keep, no tests to pass, no hoops to climb through. All we need is to personally know the Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas day.
How do you do that? You just need to come to Him with a heart of humility. You need to acknowledge to Him that you can’t keep all the rules, pass all the tests, or climb through all the hoops. None of us are that perfect. Only Jesus is. In our humility we then put our trust and faith in Him for the forgiveness of our sins, and we will be welcomed into heaven one day with open arms because we come in the name of Jesus, and not by our own accomplishments. In some respects the simplicity of trusting the Savior is harder than trying to keep a checklist because it requires us to let go - it means we’re no longer in control (not that we ever were!) But it’s also quite liberating. When we know Jesus and have Him by our side, God looks at our sins as already paid for by the blood of the Savior and pardons our many flaws. We are invited into His kingdom based on what Jesus has done, not on what we have done, and not on the many things we know. Jesus modeled the heart of humility for us, that we need when we come to Him. He was God Almighty, and He came to us on earth as a little baby. He wasn’t laid in a silk-lined golden crib, but a manger, probably filled with straw, where the animals fed. As He grew, He allowed Himself to be misspoken of, mistreated, tortured, and ultimately killed, for our sakes. He had the power of God to stop it, but He chose to lay down His perfect life (and three days later raise it back up) so that us sinners could live. That’s humility. That’s love. That little baby in the Christmas story is pretty special. He's Someone worth getting to know!
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Most of us want to go to Heaven. I have to think that even people who don’t believe there is a Heaven and Hell must at times wonder in the back of their minds if they might be wrong and hope they’ll make the cut.
Fortunately, God doesn’t want us to have to wonder and worry about whether we’ll make it. He lays it out pretty clearly for us in the Bible! You can know your eternal destiny. Below is a list of truths you can examine within your heart in light of God’s Word to be confident that you belong to Him and will spend eternity with Him in Heaven. 1. Understand that you don't deserve to go to Heaven. You can't BE good enough or DO good enough. God demands perfection, and no one meets that requirement. You can try really hard, but ultimately, you will fall short. God doesn’t grade on a curve, nor does He weigh your good deeds against your bad deeds. "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Perfection. Perfect actions. Perfect thoughts. Perfect attitudes. Perfect motives. God also says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 3:23 and 6:23) All of humanity has failed to meet God’s requirements to go to Heaven and deserves death. This all sounds really depressing, and it is. But this understanding is crucial to having a right relationship with God. God wants you to come to Him with an attitude of humility; He is the Creator and you are His creation. He is perfect; you are not. “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:10) 2. Understand that God loves you and wants a relationship with you. Even though you have fallen short of the perfection He demands, God still loves you anyway and wants you to go to Heaven. He loves you not because of anything good you’ve done, but because you are His creation. He came to earth as a man to pay the penalty of death He requires for our sin. He did that for you. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) 3. Understand that Jesus is enough and did enough. God’s love for you was demonstrated through His Son Jesus, who took the sins of the world, including yours, upon Himself and died the death that you deserved. Going to heaven is not a result of who you are and what you can do, but rather who Jesus is and what Jesus did. As Jesus died, He announced, “It is finished.” He paid the debt that you and I owed, and made it possible to have a restored relationship with God. Jesus rose from the grave after three days, proving His power over death and the ability to grant new life to those to put their faith in Him. 5. Understand that Jesus is the only Way. All roads do not lead to the same place. All religions do not lead to God. Regular church attendance does not even guarantee that you will go to Heaven. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6) If there were any other way, why would Jesus have laid down His life? God wants a personal relationship with each of us through Jesus Christ. 5. Understand that Salvation from Hell is a free gift. While there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, God does want to give it to us! He offers it to us freely. We simply accept His gift of forgiveness, accept His grace, accept His mercy. That’s it. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) “For by grace you have been saved by faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 If you acknowledge your sins and inadequacy to God, believe that Jesus died in your place and rose again, and believe His promise for eternal life, you will go to Heaven. 5. Understand that when you belong to Jesus, He'll never let you go. You are secure with Him. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27-28) Paul also wrote in Romans, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (8:38-39) Since there is nothing you can do to earn your salvation, there is also nothing you can do to lose your salvation. It’s not dependant on what you do, good or bad. Once you have eternal life, it’s just that: eternal life. Forever. Anything short of this diminishes what Jesus did for us on the cross. What is Eternal Life? Contrary to what some people may think, the point of Heaven is not to satisfy all our wants and pleasures. Neither is Heaven about sitting on a cloud strumming a harp for all eternity. Yes, there is a heaven, and yes, it’s a great place, and yes, it’s forever. But all that isn’t the point. Jesus said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3) Eternal life is about knowing God in a personal way. Heaven is about being with God. It’s about going home to our Savior Jesus and spending eternity with Him in a place free from the pains and consequences of evil on this earth. It’s about being with the One we love, and living among others who share a love of Jesus and our Heavenly Father. That being said, if you don’t love Jesus and and don’t care about being with Him, God won’t force you into His home and into a place where you don’t want to be. You’re invited, but you have to come on God’s terms. Jesus tells us, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) What if I’m Not Sure I Believe These Things? If you are concerned about going to heaven, God is likely already at work in your heart. We don’t have to understand everything about Him, and it’s normal to have questions and doubts. Below are some steps you can take to increase your understanding of God and how to go to Heaven.
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AuthorFull time office worker, full time wife, and full time lover of Jesus. I'm kind of a Bible nerd, and I have a passion for finding ways to introduce Jesus in a practical way to everyday people doing everyday things. Archives
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