At the beginning of humanity’s existence, God had us living in paradise with Him. It was only after we messed it up and committed sin that we were kicked out. We were forbidden entry into Heaven until Jesus came into the world as a human and gave His life for us. The invitation to have eternal happiness with God is available again to everyone, but not everyone is chosen.
A lot of people like to believe that pretty much everyone will go to Heaven and that no loving God would send someone to Hell. God is love and He is very forgiving, but we need to remember that He is also very just. There are good drivers and bad drivers on the road, but not many admit to being a bad driver. To us, we are the best driver and everyone else who drives at a different speed is either a speed demon or a slow poke. We tend to have a similar mindset in regards to how good of a Christian we are. We are just fine, but others are either holy rollers or evil. It takes more than just being a good person to get to Heaven. I’m sure the first humans were basically good people, but all it took was one sin to get them kicked out.
When we freely choose to commit a sin that is of grave matter and we have full knowledge that it’s wrong, we commit a mortal sin and are separated from God’s love. Many people try to diminish the severity of their sins and choose to determine themselves what is right and wrong. We can’t rationalize ourselves out of sin, we are either on the path towards God or on a path away from Him.
Before we make an important decision, we should ask ourselves if it will bring us closer to God or lead us further away from Him. If we want to go to Heaven, we need to be in a good relationship with Him. In order to evaluate our relationship with God, we should ask ourselves some tough questions. When was the last time you went to His house? When was the last time you talked to or prayed to Him? Do you listen more to what God wants you to do or more to what you want to do?
The main photo for my blog this week has the statement, “Do what you love” written on it. What do we love? Do we love ourselves and our own desires the most? Do we love our spouse, kids, or grandkids the most? Do we put too much emphasis on our career or leisure activities? We need to always keep God at the center of our life and direct the rest of our life around Him. If we can do that, He will most definitely welcome us with open arms to experience His eternal love in Heaven.
