“As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. ‘Joseph, son of David,’ the angel said, ‘do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’” (Matthew 1:20-21 NLT)
In all the years of my long life I’ve never heard a single person say: “I can’t wait to get to hell!” I’ve heard a few who thought they were already in hell, but that’s another story. The point is, most people desire and expect to go to heaven, but many, if not most, have no clue as to how they’re going to get there.
Even people who week after week sit in evangelical churches often don’t make the connection between personal faith in Jesus and heaven. Most believe it rests on their ability to be good enough, faithful enough, “holy” enough to merit the privilege of spending eternity in the perfect environment we know as heaven. But the fact remains, there’s only one way and His name is Jesus! Can it really be that simple? Yes, it can, and it is!
My sense is that if we spent even a fraction of the time we spend trying to be “good” enough to earn our salvation in actually investing ourselves in learning to know, love, and become more like our Savior, our lives would be so much more satisfying and fruitful. The more quickly we face the fact that we’ll NEVER be good enough to merit heaven, the sooner we’ll position ourselves to receive the grace available to enable us to allow the Lord to live His life out through us. It’s not us who is or ever will be perfect, it’s Him.
Bob Goff nailed it when he wrote: “Grace means we don’t need to airbrush our lives to make them look perfect when they’re not.” How refreshing to know that I’m all I need to be as long as my trust and confidence for my eternal life is centered in and focused squarely on the Lord Jesus.
Ron Hutchcraft gives us insight into this when he writes: “There are going to be some tragic surprises on Judgment Day. Someone will walk up to God and give their name and say, ‘Hey, look at all the good things I’ve done, Lord. Here are my references; all the people who will vouch for me.’ That’s not going to be enough to get you in. Or, ‘Maybe, Lord, it’s in my church’s name, or my husband’s name, or my wife’s name. They’re real good Christians. My parent’s name.’
And then will come the agony of realizing that we’ve been depending on a name that cannot get us into heaven. Only the name of Jesus Christ can get you in, because it took His death on the cross to do it. He’s the only Savior there is. There are other religious teachers, there are religious systems. There are a lot of good works. None of which can satisfy a perfect God. Only Jesus paid the price with His life. And God says, ‘What will you do with Him? Salvation is in no other name.’
So we need to walk up to God and say, “Lord, look under Jesus. I know that He died on that cross for me. I’ve accepted His death for me as my only hope. I’ve made Him my Savior and my Lord. My reservation is in Jesus’ name.”(See A Word With You The Name on Your Heaven Reservation – 09-21-23)
Please don’t put your trust in any other name but the matchless name of Jesus. He alone said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 