Were we Born Good? Are Children Good Enough to Enter Heaven?

At school,  children may be told that they are good or great, and self esteem, at least in The States, is considered more important than actual achievement. Kids are given trophies for participating in a sport, and sports and after school activities so often dominate life that it is hard to find time to actually teach our children that according to Jesus, they are not good enough. If we are parents, surely we are aware that our children were not born perfect and unless we give in to them at every turn they will remind us of their self centered rights.

Are Adults Good enough to Enter Heaven?

Adults may be better at disguising their imperfections, calling materialism “caring for the family” and manipulative office politics as “healthy ambition”, but we, like our children, fall far short of being good enough to enter Heaven. All of us desperately need a Savior, and His name is Jesus.

We all need Salvation from Eternal Death

Jesus means “the Lord is salvation”. That is what Jesus achieved on the first Good Friday: our salvation from eternal death.  He is the Lord God and He came to the earth as a human to grow up to be punished, receiving the punishment that we all deserve. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote: …”the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Jesus offers us the Gift of Eternal Life

Only God can give us the gift of eternal life that He invites us to receive. Jesus willingly died on the cross in our place. He understood that our sin (being self centered rather than being focused on pleasing God and living for Him) would lead to fatal consequences. Paul explains Jesus’ s amazing sacrifice in Romans 5: 6 : “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

We will never deserve God’s love. Even if we are not materialistic and even though we may help old ladies cross the road etc, etc…we can never be good enough to go to Heaven and to live with Jesus forever. Compared to God we are bad and we all desperately need Him. Unless Jesus deals with our bad attitudes and behavior we cannot expect to go to Heaven. If some how we arrived in Heaven with our selfish motives intact, our sin would pollute Heaven. No, we can’t arrive in that perfect place unless God intervenes and dramatically changes us. We need a heart transplant.

How should we respond to Jesus?

If you are a Christian I would like to encourage you to thank Jesus for what He suffered on Good Friday to rescue you from Hell.

If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, I would like to encourage you to consider how much Jesus loves you. Look beyond the cultural lie that persuades us that every type of life style is good, even if it totally contradicts the teaching of Jesus. Take a reality check and realize that even though you try to be good you can never earn your way into Heaven and neither can I.

If you have given up trying: good. Admit that you need Jesus’s help. Tell Him that you are sorry that you have ignored Him for so long and ask Him to forgive you, wash you clean and fill you with His love and power: the Holy Spirit (Himself). Jesus can turn your life around right now, filling you with His love that will enable you to love God and others: giving you a new heart. Don’t miss the opportunity to receive the most important gift.

What will you do with the Gift that Jesus Offers?

Let’s not rely on our goodness to enter Heaven one day. Instead let’s admit that we are by nature bad and we desperately need to depend on the wonderful gift that Jesus secured for us when He demonstrated His goodness,  dying for us on the cross. We need to humbly receive that gift and not assume that we already have it, or to dismiss it as unnecessary. Without the intervention of Jesus, none of us will ever be good enough to go to Heaven. Only He is good enough. Aren’t we privileged to have Jesus as our Savior?

This is a post from: WomenRespond.com

Are we Good Enough to Enter Heaven?

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Our Lives may Look Good on the Outside but on the Inside there may be Pain and Decay.

It seems appropriate to make some comparisons between teeth and life. Our lives can look good on the outside, like teeth, but on the inside there may be pain and decay. Millions of dollars are spent in the U.S. to straighten teeth and to whiten them.  When I was in Washington D.C, I was stopped by a man who had heard my English accent and saw that my teeth were straight. He assumed that my family were rich because only the well off in England went to orthodontists. In fact I inherited the straight teeth gene but I also inherited a more serious problem: soft enamel. Deeper and deeper fillings threaten the lifeline of the tooth: the root, hence my root canals.

Was there anything that I could have done to protect my teeth? I am sure that my flossing and brushing are inadequate and my visits to the dentist are too few. If I could have stopped the decay developing or if I had had it removed immediately, my teeth would have been healthier. Instead, I have  cement  replacing some of my roots and crowns covering the ugly remains of those teeth.

Sin Causes Us to Feel the Pain of Guilt

How do these unpleasant facts about my teeth apply to life? We have all inherited the inclination to sin. Sin is going against God’s will for us,  and as we struggle to live life our own way, with no reference to Jesus, we are like sick teeth. We feel the pain of guilt, if we do not seek the forgiveness that Jesus offers. Without the hope of eternal life that faith in Jesus brings, we have reason to dread the decay that accompanies death.

Without a Life – giving Faith in Jesus, we are Spiritually Dead, Like a Dead Tooth.

There are many people who have not, as yet, had their lives transformed by Jesus. Perhaps they have not heard that Jesus can cleanse and forgive them;  perhaps they don’t want to hear. Jesus describes Himself as “the way, the truth and the life”.( John 14:6  ) He also refers to himself as ” the living water”:  “..whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  Without the “living water” we may look healthy but we are like one of my teeth. On the outside the tooth looks healthy and vibrant but the nerve is dead and the cement that has replaced it is unable to feel. It is there to prop the tooth up, giving the semblance of life. The Bible tells us that without a life giving faith in Jesus, we are spiritually dead.

Jesus wants to Remove our Heart of Stone and Give us a Heart of Flesh.

In this life time it is possible, but unlikely, that my dead roots will miraculously come back to life.  However, in terms of our lives, Jesus wants to  turn our heart of stone into a heart of flesh, giving us His life giving Spirit that will live forever.  This is described in Ezekiel 11:19: “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their heads what they have done, declares the Lord.”

Jesus Offers Us a Brand New Life

Jesus offers us a brand new life, if we are willing to believe and devote our lives to Him. Without Jesus our life resembles a  tooth that has had a root canal and a crown . The  crown looks good and the hard cement allows the tooth to stay in position so that it can perform the function of a tooth, but it is really dead. There is no blood feeding it and there are no nerves allowing it to feel. According to the verses in Ezekiel, if we avoid the life that Jesus offers, and if we are determined to focus on a lifestyle that does not honor God, we will receive the punishment that our actions and thoughts deserve: “I (God) will bring down on their heads what they have done.” One day it will be quite clear who has turned away from the new life that Jesus offers.

A Christian is like a real tooth attached to the blood supply by the root and able to feel, thanks to the nerve. If we are Christians do we thank Jesus for the life He has given us? Do we earnestly pray and study the Bible so that we are connected to Him fully? Are we energized spiritually? Do we protect the “enamel” by regularly asking for Jesus’ forgiveness when we are aware that we have sinned. This is like thoroughly cleaning the teeth. Are we aware that we have an enemy, the devil who can attack our lives like plaque destroying a tooth. God wants us to receive His protection and when there is decay or sin he will remove it when we seek His help.

Are You Rooted and Built Up in Jesus?

Please don’t avoid Jesus in the same way that I avoid the dentist. If you are not yet a Christian, Jesus can give you a brand new life and He will forgive you for everything, washing you with the “living water”. If you are a Christian you should not be lazy regarding the necessary discipline of looking after your life in Christ. Like looking after your teeth, effort in protecting your teeth will be worthwhile. Similarly Jesus will bless you and protect you as you spend time praying and reading the Bible and following Him faithfully.  Are you rooted and built up in Jesus?  ” So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2: 7)

This is a post from: WomenRespond.com

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I have just been reading about Oswald. J Smith who became a Christian just over a hundred years ago in Canada. He was a sixteen year old who went on the train with his younger brother to hear a well known preacher. Times have changed. Today it would be likely that the local journalists might sneer at what was preached in the churches. In 1906, Dr Torrey’s (the preacher) words were published word for word every day in the newspaper. Oswald’s mother was very pleased that her son wanted to go to the evangelistic crusade. She did not tell her boys until later that she wrote to Torrey asking that he would pray that her sons might be converted. Today many people, especially the young, turn up at a Christian meeting without the encouragement or prayers of their parents.

The two boys, staying with their aunt, attended the final eight meetings of the crusade. The preacher taught about  Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.  Oswald remembered hearing Isaiah 53 emphasized: “But He was wounded for MY transgressions; He was bruised for MY iniquities(Sins), the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5-) This was an Old Testament prophecy about Jesus dying for us- wretched sinners. We are all separated from God through our sin that deserves to be punished. Jesus took our punishment on Himself as He died a painful death on the cross.

Oswald J. Smith was raised my a mother who so wanted her kids to become strong believers that she wrote a letter to the preacher to pray for them. No doubt they attended church regularly with their family, but the mother knew that church attendance was not enough. It was essential that they should have a conversion experience: recognizing their need for forgiveness, faithfully submitting to Jesus as Lord:  beginning a brand new life in Christ.

At the end of one of Torrey’s sermons, the brothers went up to express their desire to receive Christ, to become children of God. To start with Oswald felt like a “chunk of lead”. Later he recognized that this was the power of Satan pulling him back. Do we realize that we are in a spiritual battle and that the devil is happy for us to believe in Jesus but not for us to receive forgiveness and to be filled with the Holy Spirit? If you are in the habit of attending church, but you have not received forgiveness and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, do not continue to be satisfied with your condition. If you were needing help in the sea you would not merely look at the life boat, you would get in, if you had any sense. We need to understand our need for a savior and let Him save us as we step forward in repentance and faith, with a thankful heart, for we  can never be good enough for Him: we can never earn our salvation.

Oswald J.Smith describes His conversion: “Then suddenly, it happened. I cannot explain it even today. I just bowed my head, put my face between my hands and in a moment tears gushed through my fingers, and fell upon the chair, and there stole into my boyish heart a realization of the fact that the great change had taken place. Christ had entered and I was a new creature. I had been born again. There was no excitement, no unusual feeling, but I knew that something had happened, and that ever after all life would be different. That was January 28th, 1906, when I was 16 years of age, and it has lasted to this day. Yes, and it is going to last, praise God, throughout the countless ages of eternity.”

Your conversion may not look exactly like Oswald’s, but there must be a change of direction: from sin and death to holiness and life, through the power and mercy of Jesus. Oswald was no longer under the control of our enemy the devil, but instead he was under the loving and powerful control of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. Who owns you? Who leads you and where is he taking you? Please don’t assume that Jesus is your Lord if you have not asked Him to forgive you, change you and deliver from the power of darkness.

Oswald J. Smith went on to live for a further 80 years. He became a brilliant pastor, hymn writer and author and he sent out hundreds of missionaries. His wonderful, Christian life, which is continuing into eternity, began with one faithful step of faith, as he responded to Christ’s call. Have you taken that step and if you have, are you praying for those who have not. Is your church teaching that we need more than a good attitude, we need to recognize that we need our Savior to set us free from the power of sin. As new people in Christ, we should expect to make a radical difference, being the “body” of Christ reaching out to bring hope, truth and healing to a generation who are not reading the latest sermon in their local newspaper. We must heed the message and share the truth that “..unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:3)

+ I have quoted from “The One Year Christian History-A daily glimpse into God’s powerful work”. This is written by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten and it is published by Tyndale. It is excellent. Do not read it instead of daily Bible reading, but if you have time add this to your daily prayer and Bible reading . It will  encourage you as you see how others  have put Jesus first.

This is a post from: WomenRespond.com

Conversion: a Brand New Life in Jesus

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