Victoria Advocate, A Different Perspective
Have you ever been convinced of something, only to find out later you were wrong? And not just a little wrong—dead wrong! That said, I may have been wrong once. Or twice.
There may even have been times I have self-diagnosed symptoms for a particular illness, only to learn my conclusions were erroneous. Not even in the same ballpark. It really shouldn’t surprise me that doctors have insights beyond my limited means, but there you have it.
Sports commentators predict wins and losses based on statistics, but the players have a way of defying the odds. It’s what makes a sport fun to watch.
Alas, it’s a common occurrence as human beings to assume we know more than we do, then base decisions on faulty assumptions. We tend to view our opinion as the only informed or correct one, especially if it falls within our area of expertise. Or not. Actually, this defective thinking was in place long before social media or opinion-based news.
Frankly, our cobbled-together mix of opinions and knowledge is a scary way to live, because what we know simply isn’t enough. We need the mind of God to live our best lives. The good news is, he’s given us the Bible, the inspired Word of God. It’s an instruction book on how to live.
There again, we run headlong into our own fallibility. We often assume we know what the Bible says, but our memories are flawed—kind of like unreliable eyewitnesses. When the religious leaders posed a highly improbable hypothetical situation, “Jesus replied, ‘Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.’” He continued to tie in what the Scriptures say about the situation they posed, then he concluded with, “You have made a serious error.” (Mark 12:24-27, NLT) What was their serious error? They didn’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.
Nowhere does this apply more than the age-old question—How does one get to heaven? Lots of theories have been offered up through the ages, but the only one that carries any weight is what God says about it. After all, why would we even long for heaven if not for him placing eternity in our hearts?
Two prevalent theories exist about how to get to heaven, both of them man-made. First is the idea that man can be good enough. But who constitutes the standard for “good enough”? At this point, a person might point out they haven’t murdered or committed any other despicable crime. Beyond that, the cutoff point gets fuzzy, but people cling to this theory like Saran Wrap.
The other popular fallback is that somehow, we can work or earn our way to heaven. Really? Scripture declares, “…they (humanity) cannot redeem themselves from death… Redemption does not come so easily, for no one can ever pay enough to live forever and never see the grave.” (Psalm 49: 7-9, NLT)
Because he is God, he gets to make the rules. And he said there is only one way to heaven. It’s straight through Jesus Christ, his Son. If we admit that we have sinned—done big or little things wrong—he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It’s our ticket to an everlasting life.
When we receive Christ as our redemption, he comes to live inside of us. He promises never to leave us and shows us how to accomplish the tasks that he has for us—those things that make our hearts sing.
His way is the only path to true fulfillment and joy.
Going to heaven is much too important to leave to chance. Especially when you can know—for sure and for certain.