“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me…I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 14:1,6

There are so many people today who say they believe in God. But many of them never mention Jesus. Or if they do believe that Jesus is the Son of God, they haven’t received Him as their Savior and Lord of their life. It makes me so sad, because there are so many good, honest, benevolent, loyal, salt-of-the-earth people out there who think that because they acknowledge God and Jesus in their head, they have a chance of going to heaven. I put it that way because when you ask them if they’re going to heaven, they will usually say, “I hope so.”

But we can know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we are going to heaven. “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10 NIV)

Now, does this mean that we can just say that we believe that Jesus is Lord and we are automatically saved? The Bible says “even the demons believe and tremble.” (James 2:19) They believe, but they definitely haven’t made Him their Lord. We have a perfect example of this in a marriage. One can say that they love someone and believe that they are the only one for them. But if they really love them, they will commit their life to the relationship. As a matter of fact, the body of believers is called the Bride of Christ.

I can tell you my own personal experience regarding this. When I was about ten years old, the pastor of the church that I attended came into our Sunday School room and said we needed to start thinking about joining the church. I and several others in the group soon went up front during the invitation hymn. We prayed the sinner’s prayer and by all appearances accepted Jesus as our Savior. I was sincere in what I did and I believed that Jesus died for my sins. But I did not make a total commitment from my heart to make Him Lord of my life. Later on when I got out into the world, I allowed other people and circumstances to influence me in an ungodly way. It was not until I was twenty-five years old that I truly accepted Jesus as Lord of my life and made a commitment to serve Him at all costs. Since that time I have never doubted the fact that when my life on this earth is over, I will go to heaven to be with Him. You can have that same assurance.

If you’re only hoping that you’ll make it to heaven, examine your own heart. Do you have a committed, personal relationship with Him? If you do, you’ll know…and if you don’t, ask Him to come into your heart and be the Lord of your life today. Heaven awaits! And…hey…spread the Good News!

Thank you, Father
That I have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled
and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for me!
I Peter 1:4