How to Get to Heaven
The teacher stood before the Sunday morning Bible class of 6-year-olds. She asked them, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?” The children all shouted, “NO!” “Well, what if I cleaned the church building every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?” Again, the children answered, “NO!”
“Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my husband, would that get me into Heaven?” Without hesitation, they all resounded as before, “NO!” “Well, then, how can I get into Heaven?” One little boy spoke up immediately, “You gotta be dead!” I think the teacher had something else in mind!
There seems to have been no doubt in the children’s minds of the existence of heaven. The teacher took that acceptance for granted in asking the question. However, she wanted them to think about the requirements to get to that place. The one little boy was right, even more than he could possibly know! There will be no one in Heaven who has not died. Dying to sin is the key to salvation. “For he who has died has been freed from sin.” (Romans 6:7). Baptism is the point at which we are buried with Christ in baptism, but death to sin occurs first. I think one of the problems most of suffer from is that we did not really die to sin. Being baptized is the easy part. Dying to sin is the hard, on-going part.
We are each experiencing our own unique climb to the place where all of us will be eventually—eternity. When this life is over, we all move on to an eternal destination. We are comforted by Jesus’ words that we often hear quoted at someone’s funeral. “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know and the way you know.” (John 14:1-4).
However, we are also painfully aware of our own unique path. Paul wrote, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.” (II Corinthians 5:1-4).
The little boy’s answer now comes before us, “You gotta die!” The groaning that Paul addressed is a discomfort with being here in this world. I don’t think he means the troubles and trials we must endure while. Rather, I think he means the spiritual groaning of being away from the place that best suits who we really are! He is asking us if we groan to be with God! Or, in the sentiment of the words of our little student above, “Have you died yet?”
I like it here in this world. I like living in Richmond. I don’t like a lot of things that are happening all around, but I like my life. You probably do too. However, I am not sure that I groan to be away from here. It is up to me to pursue my unique to that final heavenly and, in the meantime, come to groan that I am not there yet.
— Mike Johnson
