Life Checkpoint: if you were to die in the next hour, how sure are you that you will go to heaven? When God sees you in heaven and asks why He should let you in, what would you say?
God has given us a heart and head to know what is sinful and what is not, regardless if we are Christ followers or not. The ten commandments, or for that matter, even if we were to just look at a few of the commandments, asking us not to murder (even in the mind when we are angry), not to commit adultery (even in the mind when we lust), not to bear false witness or lie (regardless of the reason), not to steal and to honor our father and mother; these itself provide us with a yardstick to know we cannot keep it apart from God's help.
No wonder, when the rich young man came to ask Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus gave him an opportunity to examine his life (see Matt 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22, Luke 18:18-23).
Think about it, it's impossible for a rich young man to not have broken God's commandments because man is fallen. But the rich young man's response was "I've kept all these from my youth". Apparently, the man was using his own yardstick, which is lower than God's. But Jesus loved him (Mark 10:21) and gave him another chance to examine his life honestly. He asked him to sell all he had, give to the poor and follow Him. It was a heart's test as Jesus was trying to bring him to a checkpoint in life for his own yardstick. Jesus did this to expose his true love for money above love for God, and by that he broke the first, second and tenth commandment to love God, to not worship any idol (including idol of money) and not to covet.
A lot of times, we can be self-righteous and think that we are there. But the painful truth is that we are NOT there. Heaven is a place of holiness and God is holy. He cannot allow anything that is unholy to enter. It is no longer about how much or less sinful one is over others because ALL are sinners. It is about how we allow God to come into our sinful lives to turn things around through Jesus Christ.
When we are self-righteous, we think we have reached there but in truth we have missed the Holy God's mark. Paul, the person who wrote most of the new testament, who we will thought is righteous before God, also confessed "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me" (Philippians 3:12). But He (God) provided a way for us, Jesus Christ, who being from God and sinless, took the punishment for our sins and died on our behalf. The bible says that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23) (first physical and then eternal death in hell). But Jesus came to take that death. Now you understand how God loves you and wants you to have nothing to do with eternal death from Him.
The solution: turn away from self-righteousness, know that there is no other way to be right with God expect through the One He sent. If you have yet to, accept Him into your life as Savior and also Lord. Invite a Christian friend to take you through the sinner's prayer with you because there is power in the spoken word. Just like in a marriage, the couple can know that they love each other so much but until they verbalize "I Do", the marriage is not valid.
There is power in the spoken word because, even God spoke the world into being (see Gen 1), let alone us who can speak to our situation. I have recently come to realise in my healing and wholeness, there is indeed power in verbalizing my forgiveness. Until that healing session, I had thought I have forgiven some people until I spoke the forgiveness. Somehow, when we proclaim, our spirit, soul (which includes the mind) and body agrees. So speak it.
Now that you have accepted Jesus as Savior, He has cleansed you of the eternal death that plagues you with your sins. But while you are still alive, you cannot continue in your sin. Jesus said to the adulteress woman "Go and sin no more (John 8:11). He will also be Lord of your life as He shows you how to live righteously, just as He Himself lived while walking on this earth alive, and now in our lives, through the Holy Spirit. Yes, we will fall into sin again but keep coming back to God, repent truthfully and allow Him to work in your life. But do not take His grace for granted and keep sinning, mocking God.
So, if you were to die in the next hour, how sure will you be you will be in heaven? What would you say if God asks you why He should let you into heaven?
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