I used to think all Christians were judgemental hypocrites. I also thought Christianity was a bunch of rules made to control you and force you to keep your life on the straight and narrow. Christianity looked like a club of unhappy people spending their days in cold church pews saying prayers for the sake of it.
This Christianity did not look attractive to me, and when I saw how these people often treated other people it made me want to run from everything that had the words God or church attached to it.
This was all before I met Christians who really believed in and followed God. Christians to whom faith wasn’t a tick box on their day, or year, but a crazy adventure with the creator of the universe. These Christians had something I could not explain – it was a peace, passion and purpose which I craved. These Christians would pick me up and drop me off when they didn’t have to. They seemed to care about me and what was going on in my life. Their faith seemed to affect their everyday living. It was through these Christians that I came to understand the heart of God.
A lot of the time we get it wrong. I remember learning a song at Sunday school that said, “you can’t get to heaven in a broken car, ’cause a broken car won’t get that far.” Well, we often think we can get to heaven a whole lot of ways and they are incorrect.
1. Being a nice person won’t get you into heaven
Being a nice person and treating people with respect is a good thing. The Bible teaches us to treat others as we would like to be treated. This is not going to get you into heaven though. Even if you visit the old age home and make cookies for your neighbour every Saturday. Even if you smile a lot.
2. Going to church won’t get you into heaven
You can go to church seven times a week and it won’t get you into heaven. The same way as going on Easter or Christmas won’t earn you brownie points with God. People go to church because they love God and they want his presence. If you are going to church to impress people or to feel better about yourself, question your motives.
3. Knowing the Bible won’t get you into heaven
Some people can quote bible verses at you as if they wrote the whole book themselves. There is no point having lots of knowledge about Jesus, but not knowing him yourself. All that knowledge does is make you sound smarter. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to know the Bible – but not if you miss its central message in the process.
4. Never sinning won’t get you into heaven
Everyone does wrong stuff and it doesn’t help to judge people or hold their bad stuff over them because you don’t do it. When we start to play “Oh, look what she did,” or “Did you know that he did this?” we place ourselves in a position of superiority. Trying to be perfect won’t impress God. Be humble and be authentic.
The only thing that will get you into heaven is giving your life to Jesus Christ. This means saying you can’t do it alone. It means letting God change how you do life. It is based on you and God, and nothing else. It’s about your heart, not your actions.
When I met Christians who followed God with all their heart, that was when faith came alive for me. That was when I wanted to do good, help people, read my Bible, and go to church. That’s the real deal. Don’t settle for any broken cars.