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“My grandma thinks I’m going to heaven,” says Kole, 6.
Why is it that most grandchildren can’t get enough of their grandparents?
Most grandparents are smart enough to just love on their grandkids. They leave the hard stuff like correction and discipline for the parents.
Kids instinctively sense when someone loves them. They know their grandparents think they’re very special, and they love it. If grandparents possessed the key to heaven, all their grandkids would have their tickets punched for heaven.
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“You have to be good,” says Carly, 6.
That’s exactly the problem, Carly. Do you know anyone who is good always? If no one is good all the time, how good do you have to be to walk through the pearly gates? Many people think God grades on the curve. If I’ve been better than most people, God will roll out the golden carpet to welcome me into heaven, right? WRONG!
God doesn’t grade on the curve. When we compare ourselves to other people, we’re looking at the wrong standard for entering heaven. We need to look at God instead of people. God is good all the time because goodness is his nature.
“I know I am going to heaven because I believe that Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins,” says Reecie, 7. “I know that this is the way to get to heaven because God said so, and God is truthful (John 3:16).
Reecie is not trusting in her own efforts to be good. She knows that she could never earn the kind of goodness that God requires to live with him forever. The Lord Jesus Christ is God’s standard for goodness and heaven. Out of all the billions of people who have been born, only he was good all the time.
As God’s only son, Jesus came from heaven in order to make the way to heaven available for all. Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” (John 14:6).
Amazingly, Jesus Christ offers eternal life as a free gift to all who will simply trust him and him alone as their only way to heaven. In spite of the fact that Jesus said, “It is finished,” as he hung on the cross, many people still think Jesus needs help in being the savior of the world.
You can’t be truly confident or powerful unless you know with certainty that you have eternal life. Death is the biggest problem everyone faces. Jesus conquered death when he rose from the grave after three days. True liberation and power comes from knowing you are God’s child forever. No one including you can undo a spiritual birth any more than one can undo a physical birth.When you are born again spiritually into God’s family, you belong to him forever. God wants to bless all his children. Like any good father, he disciplines his children (Hebrews 12:6). However, he never disowns his children. That can’t happen because God promised eternal life to all who accept the Lord Jesus as their savior.
No sin or failure is greater than Christ’s sacrifice for sin. Wow!
Think about this: The very nature of the life that God gives when anyone trusts the Lord Jesus as his or her savior is “eternal.”
Memorize this truth: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).
(Carey Kinsolving is an experienced public speaker, syndicated newspaper columnist, author and producer. Kinsolving holds master’s degrees from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. A native of McAllen, Texas, he currently lives in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas with his wife, Lisa.)