The Road to Heaven

A question many new Christians have is about how to get into heaven. Different churches will tell you different things about the subject.

Some will tell you that you have to live a good life, help the poor, tithe your church large portions of your income, confess your sins to your priest, or speak in tongues.

Some will tell you that you must keep the old holy days, go to church every Saturday, and follow a number of commandments, as the Jews do.

Yet others will tell you that, in order to be saved, you need to be baptized, take communion, or abstain from alcohol.

I will tell you that none of these things will guarantee you a place in heaven. If you decide that God will look at the good and bad things you did in your life, and make the decision based on the good outweighing the bad, then you will guarantee that heaven won't be your final resting place.

During the last supper that Jesus had with his disciples, he explained that he was going home to his Father. Thomas, one the the disciples, asked how they would follow him. He was asking how they would ascend to heaven. His answer was the following:

 

John 14:6

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

 

Simply put, this means that, no matter how many good things you do in your life, no matter how many lives you save, how many drug addicts you help off the street, you will not reach God without Jesus. Without faith in Christ, your good works count for nothing in the eyes of God.

The one and only way to reach God is through faith in Jesus Christ. By believing that Jesus was born, was the living embodiment of God, that he died on the cross to free you from the burden of your sins, you will achieve eternal life.

Some people, confronted with this truth, will inevitably ask "Then why do good things at all, if they don't matter?"

The answer to this, of course, is that they do matter. Christ commanded us to take care of the poor, the needy, to love everyone, friend or enemy.

You do these things, not because you need to do them to get into heaven, but because your faith in Christ requires you to do them.

As a Christian, you may get told many different things that Christians are required to do. A Christian is *required* to do nothing more than what Christ commanded them to do. Putting your faith in different actions, instead of putting your faith in Christ, can be incredibly dangerous for your soul.

You may be told that, as a Christian, you need to go to church every Sunday, or even every Saturday, to be a true Christian. You may be told that you need to speak in tongues, as proof that the Holy Spirit has filled you. You may be told that you need to pray in a certain position, hands up in the air, or prostrate on the floor, in order for God to pay attention to you.

These are not things commanded by Christ. They are commanded by misguided churches, that don't understand that the one and only thing that is important is your faith in Christ.

Pray how you like. If you feel comfortable, and calm, and trusting in Christ, it doesn't matter if you are on your feet with your hands in the air, on your knees with hands clasped, or prostrate on the floor. He will hear you.

If you want to confess your sins to someone, pray to Jesus. Confessing to a priest does nothing. The priest may tell you that if you don't confess your sins, you can't go to heaven. This is falsehood. This puts your faith in your priest, and not in Jesus.

Going to church is good as well. If you go every week, that's very good. If you can only make it once a month, due to job or life requirements, then go once a month.

Many Christians make sure to help out at church, cook for all the potluck lunches, and donate their time at the church garage sale. If you do these things, the important thing is to question why you're doing those things. If you're doing them because you feel that's how you can best show your faith in Christ, to genuinely help, you don't have to worry. If you're doing them, however, because you want other people to see how strong your faith is, to see how good a Christian you are, then you need to re-evaluate your reasoning.

A question asked often when this topic is brought up is "Why do good things at all? If I get into heaven no matter what, if I have faith in Christ, then why not sin all the time, and not do anything good at all?"

Let's look at what Christ did for you.

When he died on the cross, he did so as a gift for you. By your faith in him, by your acceptance of this amazing gift he has given you, you are forgiven of all of your sins. This means that, as a Christian, if you do sin, you are forgiven of it.

A Christian should try very hard to live a sinless life, however. While this is impossible for us, we must still try. When you sin, your sin is forgiven because Christ took the burden of your sins on himself, by dying as a sacrifice for you.

Before Christ died on the cross, he went through unimaginable pain and suffering, being beaten, having a crown of thorns forced onto his head, and finally, after all this, having to carry his own cross to his execution. Being hanged on a cross is torment of its own, with nails being driven through his hands and feet, then having the cross dropped in its hole, ripping the muscles in his arms and chest.

None of this compares to his suffering when you sin. When you sin, the burden of that sin rests on the shoulders of Christ. All sins, from murder, to little white lies, are equal in the eyes of God. Christ died for the burden of the sin of murder just as much as he did for the sin of gossip. But each hurts him equally.

Knowing this, and knowing that he loved you so much that he put himself through such unimaginable torture, knowing that at the moment of his death, he felt the crushing responsibility of the sins of everybody that ever lived and ever will live, so long as they believe in him, can you possibly do anything other than try not to sin?

In conclusion, there is only one basic requirement for being a Christian, and for receiving the gift of eternal life. Believe in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for you. From that belief, you should understand that you need to abstain from sinning, and that you should also do as Christ commanded, and love one another. Remember that there is a huge difference between doing good works to show your faith, and doing good works because Jesus commanded it.

Remember that Jesus Christ paid an incredibly high price for the privilege of joining him in heaven. It is not our right to pick and choose who also gets to go, but his.

 

John 3:16

¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Respond to this article by emailing articles@hisfaithful.com

Copyright (c) 2008 HisFaithful.com