You want heaven, don’t you?
Deciding: Jesus or the world.
After following God’s plan for salvation, if you want heaven, you must follow Jesus, but what does that mean? It means that Jesus calls for a revolutionary change of heart, mind, spirit, and body! Read on.
One’s heart must change from grumbling, anger, and self-centeredness to love — love for the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and love for others. Here’s Luke 10:27 — “And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’” All who want heaven must learn to love God (Hebrew ‘Elohim’, meaning the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit) with everything we are! It’s God first, your family, and then yourself. Put the first two before anything else.
Loving God first with your heart means that, before you speak, you ask: what would Jesus say, and how would He say it? It also means that before you act, you should ask: how would Jesus act, and how would His actions affect others? To do this, your heart must undergo a revolutionary change.
Hebrews 8:10, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Loving God first with your soul means that your inner self must be given over to Him. How’s that? Well, here’s the key. Truly, we are spirit people. Eh? Yep, we are spiritual beings that happen to have a body wrapped around it. So then, your inner spirit must undergo a revolutionary change.
Romans 8:10, “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
Loving God first with your mind means your thoughts must be about how to think like Jesus. Of course, your mind will focus on your day’s activities; however, your mind will be the mind of Jesus. You think about Him often, you no longer poison the air with cursing, and you think about how you can help spread the word or help others.
Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Loving God first with your strength means you give your body over to Him. How’s that? The movements of your body reflect a God-focused life, from no longer sinning (drinking, drugs, loose sexual activities, cursing, lying, etc.) to the actions of the fruit of the Spirit. Here’s Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Listen, there is no better life than living in the Spirit (that’s not miraculous, mind you, it’s that you have changed everything about yourself to the way of Jesus).⁴
Matthew 16:24-25, “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.’”
Let’s focus on Matthew 16:24-25.
If you want heaven…
Deny yourself — seeing the baubles of the world, your ungodly desire, and the ungodly ego, must be denied—no heaven without this. Give all of yourself to Jesus.
Take up your cross — Jesus had a cross, and it led Him to Calvary and death by crucifixion. Your cross is your life, and it must lead to the death of your ungodly inner person; without doing this, there is no heaven.
Follow me — we must give our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies over to Jesus. That’s a revolutionary change!
Friend, where is Jesus going today in your life?
Garland Van Dyke
https://www.facebook.com/matthewsstreetchurchofchrist
http:www.matthewsstreetchurchofchrist.com
Matthews St. church of Christ, 1915 Matthews, PO Box 1522, Bay City, TX 77414
Email: garland.churchofchrist@gmail.com
You’re always welcome to attend worship with us on Sundays at 9:30 for Bible Class, Worship at 10:30, and Bible Class on Wednesdays at 7 PM.