The big question for most people of faith is, “What do I need to do to get to Heaven?” Does following the Ten Commandments, get us there? What about accepting Jesus Christ as our savior and trusting in His love and mercy? The secular world might say that as long as someone is a good person they will be fine and go to Heaven. While there is some truth that doing all of these things will get us on the right track to Heaven, we will most likely find ourselves in trouble if we don’t do more.
Adherence to the Ten Commandments lays a good foundation for our road to Heaven, but the Commandments provide only a bare minimum standard. In the aviation world, when a pilot goes to take a flight test, there is a minimum testing standard required to pass. An applicant usually has to perform certain maneuvers while keeping their altitude, airspeed, and heading within certain parameters. Just barely getting the standard might get them their pilot certificate, but it doesn’t make them a good pilot. The same is true in regards to the Ten Commandments. We may not have murdered someone, but do we hold anger in our heart towards anyone? We may not have committed adultery, but do we look at other people with lust? The stronger the relationship we have with our Father, the more likely we are to be invited to take part in the wedding feast. Our Father will be more pleased if we not only do the minimum that is required of us, but if we go the extra mile because we love Him and want to please Him.
Accepting Jesus as our savior and trusting in his love and mercy is something every Christian should do. However, this isn’t enough to guarantee entry into Heaven. Although He loves us and forgives us when we return to Him after straying, we need to actually walk the path that He has laid out for us. This involves taking action and living our life in such a way that others can see Christ in us. We need to constantly work on our relationship with Jesus. Any relationship requires work to keep it going strong. It’s not only faith that saves us and it’s not only our actions. The two go hand in hand and when they are in union, great things will happen.
The world will say that as long as we are good people we will be fine. After all, why would God send a good person to Hell. The world says that there are plenty of bad guys out there, but that most people are good and will go to Heaven. Jesus actually tells us the opposite in that most people won’t be saved. He encourages us to enter through the narrow gate, for the path to destruction is wide. God doesn’t send anyone to Hell. If we don’t listen to Him and don’t put any effort towards working on our relationship with God during this life, we can’t expect to have a relationship with Him in the next.
Why do we want to get to Heaven? Is it because we don’t want to suffer in Hell or because we want to experience eternal joy in Heaven? Those are all valid reasons, but the better reason is that we want to go to Heaven because we love God so much that we don’t ever want to be separated from Him. When we live our life with that goal, everything else falls into place. We will have no problem following the Commandments with the love for God in our hearts. We will also accept and trust in Him completely because we love Him above all things. God will then look down on us and say, “Well done! Now enter into the joy of My house.”
