What does going to Heaven mean to you? What is Heaven and how do I get there? Am I going to Heaven?
These are questions I used to ask myself all the time but never once gave it much thought or put much research into it.
This is a big thing I have wanted to talk about for a while now, I know that a lot of people are deceived about it because I was too. But Im always so afraid of not using the right words that I've held off. I pray that God will speak for me here so that anyone who may be deceived, will hear the truth with love & nothing else. I was mistaken just as much as any other non Christian or non bible thumper or non-saved Christian for that matter, so hear me out.
When I first started to become a Christian, (which was only a few months ago but that's beside the point) one of the first things I learned was that Heaven is not an entitlement. And Hell is a real and scary place. It's a place where, because of our sinful nature, we all should be going. If you feel that you are deserving of heaven because you're a pretty good person and you're not Hitler and you pray once in a while and have "believer" in your Instagram bio, keep reading.
Let's go back in time for a minute to my days of not being a Christian. I didn't disbelieve in God or reject Him by any means, but I was definitely not reading any Bible or saying any prayers unless I was desperate. Of course I still thought that if heaven is real then I'd be going because I was a pretty good person (lol), and I prayed sometimes. I can't tell you how dangerous it is to have that mindset. Obviously I didn't know or understand that at the time, no one ever taught me (I was even confirmed, why didn't they teach me about the important stuff?) and I wasn't trying to learn on my own either. So that's why I'm writing this, because if you are like I was, this is to help you.
I got saved a couple months ago. I don't remember the exact date but I remember the night. I'm not kidding, I cried about it because if being saved is such a special thing that only a few come to find, than why me?! I wasn't the daughter of a rich man on earth, I will never "inherit" anything on earth, I wasn't given a Benz on my 16th birthday, I wasn't even raised under strong Christian values, but yet here I am still being given the gift of eternal life? Which only a few will come to find. Why me???
Salvation cannot be granted to you by your pastor or your parents or anyone on earth. It is not a certain magic prayer that you say. It is something that happens in you by the grace of God. Because you will never deserve it or earn it. It's surely not some type of entitlement to all humans or to all humans except the ones like Hitler. It's not an entitlement to everyone as long as you hide your evil, bottle it up inside you, and go to church and act nice and stuff like that. The Lord knows what you're thinking, so if you sin but it's in your mind, it's the same as sin out loud .
Salvation is something that happens to you in your heart. You can cry out to God for salvation, perhaps more than once, and the Spirit will find you and encompass you.
Matthew 8:2-3 "A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy."
It's then that you suddenly don't have that negative junk bottled up inside you anymore. Each day will be a new day and you will slowly learn to leave your sins in the past. People's judgement doesn't bother you because you know what you're doing, and you realize that they simply just don't understand.
It's then that you start to die of yourself. You become "born again." You give up everything you wanted if it means serving Him. You stop doing things the Bible forbids because you love God and you cherish the gift he gave you. You cherish and appreciate what He has done to you and for you. You change and people notice it. You become a Jesus freak even though you swore in high school you'd never be that girl. It's then that you are saved.
John 3:3 "Jesus replied, 'Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.'"
Salvation will change you. It's about change. It's about becoming something other than yourself. We're all born as sinners. We're all born wanting what we want and doing what we want to do. We need to change that. We need to be born again of Christ and not of our destructive, selfish, and sinful selves.
We can't afford to take Jesus for granted. We can't willfully go against His word and still believe that we deserve Heaven. Heaven can't be granted to those who have not died of their willful sin nature. What justice would that serve?
That would mean I can do whatever I want, keep sinning, and all I have to do is say a quick prayer at night, go to church on Sunday, and put my favorite Bible verse on my social media and then it's all good, right? Obviously that doesn't seem right. I think it's awesome when people DO talk about Jesus on SM, I just want to explain what salvation really is. What it really means to go to Heaven. Because I feel this is truly the most important aspect of following Jesus. It's what leads you to all the genuine fruits of the "Christian" label. 'Because at the end of the day, we're all just walking each other home.' ❤️
Matthew 6:1 says, "beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your father in Heaven.
It's much, much deeper than what others see. My own salvation runs much deeper than this blog. I'm just here to tell you about it in hopes of enlightening someone. It's not an easy road. People will judge you and roll their eyes at you and think you're annoying and boring. But I'll leave you with this:
Matthew 7: 13-14 "enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the path that leads to life, and only few find it."
Come with me, take the narrow path. Be different. Do it even if it isn't "cool." We can be weirdos and losers and outcasts and Jesus freaks together. HUGS. ❤️
