What if heaven was never something we had to earn, but something God made available through belief?
I think it would be a fair assumption that most people hope to get into heaven. Heaven being that place where we live with God forever. Yet so many religions and creeds and dogmas exist, all with different entrance exam requirements. Some preach self-denial as a response to their “wicked” flesh. Others have extensive lists of things one cannot do in order to please God, and subsequently they publish a list of commandments which, if successfully navigated, would surely result in entry to the happy place. Some presume, based on nothing in particular, that if your good outweighs your bad, you’re in. But here’s a thing worth considering. Why would God make the entrance exam so difficult to pass if He loved people and desired to spend eternity with them? What if so many, many people were engaged in all sorts of compulsive activities in their quest to please God, and it wasn’t something He required of them at all?
When Heaven Feels Like a Test
The problem is that we endeavor to view heaven as a reward for doing all the “right things” as defined by our own personal standards. People picture the entrance requirements through their lens of an angry God Who is generally unhappy with all mankind because of their sinful behavior. They think He is seeking to teach people a hard lesson with a litany of regulations that defines most of what we enjoy as “evil,” and thus pain, misery, striving, and struggle are prerequisites. In short, heaven is something or somewhere that must be earned, and the cost is very high.
What If the Requirements Were Different?
What if I told you all of that wasn’t true? What if there was something behind all of this “religion” with its impossible-to-meet standards? What if getting into heaven had nothing at all to do with how good or bad you are, but rather with what you chose to believe? What if God actually made a way for anyone to get into heaven not by their own works, but by their belief in the sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? What if he is the way? Here is a cheat code that bypasses every possible test. Romans 10:9-10…
God’s Solution Was Grace
People take issue with this because they do not understand what God actually did for us, why He did it, and how He did it. All of the works that men do to gain something from God can never succeed because only God could implement a plan perfect enough to guarantee entrance to heaven. After Adam and Eve were deceived by evil and left the Garden of Eden, every person ever born carried sinful nature. Quite simply, mankind needed a Savior, and God sent His Son Jesus Christ to accomplish man’s redemption.
God never required people to work harder to make their temporary mortal lives into something that would get them into heaven. The Apostle Paul said, “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.” Yet here are the masses disciplining themselves and chastising themselves and whipping themselves to prove their minds and bodies are good enough for God. Our flesh counts for nothing as far as heaven is concerned. All of this grand focus on sin– fears about sin, hyper-vigilance to avoid sin, and ever-present feelings of guilt regarding sin–was completely solved by God already.
God solved your sin problem for you (and me). You know why? Because we could never solve it on our own. Not from lack of effort, as you already know, but because we began life with sin inherited from Adam. I hope you can see how big this is for you. You cannot remove the imperfection no matter how many glasses of wine you refuse. God solved our problem by giving His Son, who had the potential to live God’s Word perfectly. Jesus did not inherit sinful nature from Adam because his Father was God. When He fulfilled every aspect of the law, when he finished the work, his perfection would replace our imperfection simply by believing what God said He did. The just for the unjust. Once we believe and have His Spirit inside, we can never be separated from Him again. Believing His Word and receiving His Spirit is the cheat code for heaven. (Romans 10:9-10)
No Test Required
We live in a time when God’s grace is freely available. Grace is unmerited, unearned divine favor. Makes sense, doesn’t it, from God Who desires intimacy and shared love with all men? He made it easy for us; can’t you see it? He knew we could never live up to His perfect standards on our own, and so He made a way for us. Jesus Christ is the way and the only way. He is the entrance exam for which no test is required, only belief. “It is finished” is the end to all that maddening stuff you have been doing, out of fear, to get God to like you and maybe sneak you in.
I’ll take it a step further. Anyone in any group at any church in any place in the world who tells you what work you must do to get into heaven is not telling you the truth. We are saved by grace, not by works, lest any man should boast. This is the truth of the Word of God. You cannot clean yourself up well enough to deserve what God has freely given you. All of the supposed purification is a colossal waste of time. God said that when Jesus was crucified, our sinful old nature was crucified with him. Crucified as in dead. Dead men cannot sin, at least as far as God is concerned. Does this mean we go commando and specialize in doing wrong? Of course not. The results of doing the wrong stuff never end well.
The Takeaway
God made a way that would guarantee entrance to all men, as many as are willing to believe. That’s love, my friends. That is God who knows all about you yet still desires a relationship with you. (smile) The entrance exam to get into heaven was never about you and me. It’s about making Jesus Lord in your life and believing God raised him from the dead. So simple. So very kind of God. I hope you choose the route offered by God. It cost our Lord his life. God desires your free-will love, not compulsion based on fear. Enter through the door whose name is above every name. Romans 10:9-10.
Reflection: If the entrance exam has already been fulfilled in Christ, then the invitation is not to strive harder, but to believe, receive, and walk in grace.
