Appointed To Bear Fruit: A 90 Day JourneyНамуна

Taking Jesus At His Word

Believers boldly risk all for Christ because they are certain about what will happen to them after they die. There is no doubt whatsoever. Jesus tells us that He is going to heaven and, while in heaven, He will prepare a place for us. It’s not just any old place in heaven, but it’s in His Father’s house. What an honorable position we have in heaven. Not only is our place personally prepared by Jesus, but it’s with the Father and not in some remote corner of Paradise. See how great the Father’s love is for us! He has adopted us as His children and not as servants in His heavenly palace.

Our blessings don’t end there either. Jesus didn’t say that He will prepare a place for us and that we need to gather up enough good works to get us through the front door of His Father’s house. He guarantees that we will enter His Father’s house, because He will personally bring us there. We enter because of Jesus’ work on the cross, not our own. The truth is: we will never have enough good works to bring us to Paradise. Christ has completely paid our debt of sin by His death on the cross. Regardless of how much good works we have accumulated, these works will never be enough to cover our debt of sin before a holy God. Praise God that entering heaven is not dependent on us. It completely depends on Christ. He has prepared a place, and He will bring us there. And, we know for sure that we will be accepted when we arrive.

Jesus is personally involved in bringing us to heaven because He wants us there with Him. Many think that heaven is like earth only with greater pleasures. Some religions describe heaven with the riches of this world, because they think that people will follow their religion if they are promised the things that they desired while on earth. What we obtain in heaven is so much greater than all the wealth and pleasures of this world. Our deepest desires will be fulfilled, because our God will be in heaven and we will be together with Him. Everything else pales in comparison. 

Jesus promised to bring us to heaven, yet so often we live as though that promise doesn’t exist. Sometimes those who believe that they must earn their way to heaven are more diligent in spreading their beliefs than we are. We, who will be brought to heaven by Christ, are given a place of honor in the Father’s house, and are adopted as children of God still find our hearts paralyzed by fear. We are afraid to testify that Jesus Christ is Lord. Sadly, even though we have indisputable promises because Christ has risen from the dead, many are still not as courageous as other religions that don’t have the certainty of eternal life in heaven.

After we die, there is no guarantee that history will remember us. But Jesus will never forget us. God has written our names in the Book of Life, and no name can ever be removed from it. Jesus told us, “I will go to my Father’s house.” That house is the place where we want to be, because the Father is there. When you put it all in perspective, there is no need to spend a lot of time thinking about your house here on earth. In fact, our earthly house can be an obstacle for entering our heavenly house. Earthly houses can have leaky roofs or be robbed by thieves, but our heavenly house is eternal and secure. When we realize this truth, we should be convinced to live differently so that Christ is glorified through our lives. This is the hope of every believer in Christ: Heaven awaits us so we can serve Christ with confidence. 

Application:  Are you living for heaven or for earth?