Heaven...what does it take to get there?

Picture this. Your life on this earth has ended and you find yourself standing at the gates of heaven. You hear joy and laughter coming from within and you desperately try to gain a glimpse of what is happening just inside the beautiful gates. Your heart longs deep within for entrance. Suddenly, you come face to face with God. He looks at you with incredibly serious eyes and asks you the question, "Why should I let you into my Heaven?" How would you respond? How confident are you that your answer would be correct? Even worse, if you were wrong, where do you think you would go?

These are scary questions for a lot of people. Many view God as being a judge who has a scale where He balances the good things we do in life against the bad. As long as the good is greater than the bad, many people think they will be let into heaven. Others believe that everyone will be let into heaven since God is so caring and loving. They reason, how could a loving God sentence someone to hell? Still others will be so shocked that there is life after death that they won't know what to do and how to respond to God. They will just stand there utterly speechless before Him and try to utter some feeble explanation of their life actions while they were on earth.

Where can we go to get the right answers? Let's go to the Bible, God's own words spoken to mankind. Surely it has answers to these questions. What does it teach?

First off, it teaches that God is perfect, what many in church call "holy." He doesn't mess up or screw up. He is perfect and set apart from everything. In fact, He is the one that determines what is right and wrong for everything in creation. Being perfect, He requires us to be perfect.

Mankind on the other hand has blown it. We all screw up and mess up in our life time. We all don't heed our conscious at times and give into temptations. Whether we tell a little white lie, steal a piece of gum as a little kid, gossip about someone, look lustfully upon someone, cheat on our taxes, or harm or kill someone, we've all screwed up in some way during our lifetime at least once if not more. These screw ups are what the Bible calls sin, and they are huge blemishes in our lives when compared to God's standard of perfection. It doesn't matter the severity of the screw up, sin is sin is sin, and God must judge against it no matter what. He doesn't grade on a curve.

You might be thinking, "Woah, this is horrible. Who then can get into Heaven if we've all screwed up?" That is where Jesus steps in. He was the only person in history to live a completely blameless and sinless life. He never screwed up at all. Prior to His life on earth, the religious people of the time tried to cover their sins up through sacrifices. God had told them to do that. When Jesus came and died on the cross though, God accepted his sacrifice and blood as a payment for all of the sins in the world...past, present, and future. In short, Jesus' actions on the cross paved the way of forgiveness to bridge mankind back to God.

So now you're thinking, "Hey, this is great. So Jesus' actions cover everyone. Everyone must be going to heaven." There is more to it though than that. Yes, Jesus' actions made it possible for everyone to be connected to God, but God also wants us to accept the forgiveness He offers. He offers His grace, or unmerited favor, to those who accept it and believe it. Imagine it this way. God has placed his gift of forgiveness in a package as a gift. A gift is no good to a person who doesn't take it. It just sits there and leaves the giver feeling neglected. In order to experience His forgiveness, you must first accept the gift he offers you. Then you can open it and realize how wonderful and necessary His grace and mercy truly are.

So how does a person accept God's gift of grace you may ask. It's simple. Talk to God about it through simple prayer. Tell Him you realize that you have screwed up in your life and that you need Jesus to cover your sins. Tell Him that you desire to be in heaven with Him when you die and that you realize that Jesus is the only way to get there. Tell Him that you are relying upon Jesus' sacrifice to blot out all of the sins of your lifetime. Ask for His forgiveness and He will forgive you. Tell Him you want to have a personal relationship with Him the rest of your life. He realizes and knows where your heart is, don't be concerned about specific words to say to Him.

What happens to those who people who never put their trust in Jesus? The Bible is clear on the matter. Even though Hell is something we don't want to think about, it is indeed as much of a real place as Heaven. Rejecting God's forgiveness and neglecting Him causes judgment against His perfect standard, something no human can pass at all. Even though God loves everyone, He must judge righteously in order to maintain his holiness. The torment and agony of Hell is real, and it will be heart wrenching for any person who endures it eternally.

So what is the right answer to God's question, "Why should I let you into my Heaven?" It's simple yet profound. "You shouldn't. I've sinned and I don't deserve Heaven. But, Jesus has covered my sins with his sacrifice on the cross and I have accepted your gift of mercy to cleanse me from all of my screw ups." Jesus is the only acceptable answer and if you have him, you can be confident of your position in Heaven.

Want the scripture references yourself to look at them? Check out this site for them and a further explanation of the Gospel.

So what is your answer? Why should God let you into His Heaven? Does your answer line up with His word in the Bible? Where are you going to spend eternity?