I saw a few minutes of a documentary this morning on Martin Luthor (who lived from 1483 – 1546), who passionately believed that the common man should be able to get hold of a bible. In that time, only the priests were allowed to read from the bible, and they often manipulated the poorer classes to benefit themselves. It is only through Martin Luthor’s determination that everyone, even the poorer classes, can get hold of a bible for themselves.
Anyway, one question the presenter asked was “So how do we get into heaven?” and it made me think about how we get there and who will get there.
The correct answer to who will get there is, we don’t know exactly. It will be Jesus who decides. Jesus will sort the sheep from the goats when the time comes. (Matthew 25:31-33 - The passage goes on in more detail about those who are accepted or rejected).
What we do know is that we don’t earn our way into heaven, no matter how hard we work, or how charitable we are. To get into heaven without Jesus means that we would have to have been perfect from birth. That means we would have;
Never lied – even small ‘white lies.
Never deceived – not even a little.
Never let our anger lead us to react with bitterness or aggression towards others.
Never got depressed when things didn’t go our way.
Never manipulated others to get our own way etc:
You may ask then, well who can get in? even the disciples said, ‘This is too hard, who can do this?’ and they were with Jesus every day, listening to him every day. Yet they found what Jesus was saying hard to accept. (John 6:60).
When I first understood that every one of us are sinful from birth. (That means that from birth we are focussed on ourselves), I thought, ‘well if Mother Teresa can’t earn her way in, who can? Certainly not me!
If God only accepts perfection in heaven, how can any of us possibly get in?
The answer is, of course, Jesus!
Only through Jesus can we come to our Heavenly Father. Those who eat and drink Jesus, in other words, those who truly believe. (There were people around him who didn’t truly believe, but who thought they may gain something from him).
When we accept that we cannot get in by our own deeds we set ourselves free from the pressure of trying, and we put ourselves totally in Jesus hands. He will guide us through our lives, showing us where to go, what to do and what to say. Not that we become robots in any way! – no! we do not lose our personalities and become clones of each other. But if we trust Jesus, he will use us within our personalities, to the benefit of ourselves, others and always to his glory.
This is how I see my God. Look it up for yourself, see what you think!