Imagine Heaven ናሙና

Justified by faith in Christ
By Rev. Roger Woller, Chaplain

If you are familiar with Mankato, Minnesota, you know there is a Lower Mankato and an Upper Mankato.  When you are driving on Main Street to get to Upper Mankato to where I live, you must drive up a very long hill to get to Upper Mankato. The other day when I went to pick up my granddaughter, Olivia, who lives a few miles west of Mankato, we were saying how difficult it would be to walk or bike up that hill.  I know for a fact that I would never make it now with the shape that I am in.  Olivia might make it because she is younger and in better health and shape. She did admit that it would be very difficult even for her, though.  

It is easy to get up the hill when like me you have a pickup truck with good tires and a large enough engine, and the street is not icy or slippery.  When we ask the question “How do I get up the hill?,” there are a lot of answers. But what if we ask the question this way: “How Do I Get to Heaven?” There is only one answer to that question. To be sure that you can get to Heaven, you need to be right with God.  

How do I get myself right with God? There is no way you and I can make ourselves right with God by our own thoughts, efforts, or deeds. Sin has separated us from God. We do not deserve to go to heaven. You and I are sinful.  Just like I could never make it up the hill in Mankato by myself, there is no way I can make myself right or just before God to deserve heaven.

Our loving, gracious God gives us the answer. Read again our passage from Galatians 2:16. 

My dear friend, live your life with thanksgiving and joy knowing that you are on top of the hill. You will be in heaven someday because Jesus has paid for all your sins and made you right with God.

Prayer: Dear Lord strengthen my faith knowing that you have been crucified for me and have made me right in your sight.  Help me to show that Christ lives in me. Help me to live by faith in Jesus, who loved me and gave himself for me.  Amen.