How Do You Get There?

           I check the obituaries quite often, mostly due to my previous job at a retirement facility in our area.  I made a lot of friends during those years I spent there and every now and then, I see an obituary of one of them.  In so doing, I can't help notice how many people are assumed to have made the journey to heaven after their passing.  I saw a recent comment that had been written in a newspaper that stated that God would say, "Welcome home."   Those are nice thoughts that may comfort the bereaved that are left here on earth, but may not be necessarily true.  It is easy to assume that the dead have gone on to a place of comfort and rest and they assume that it is with God.  Comments are made about the "man upstairs" who will greet them and they will be have a good old time in that place called heaven.  In so many cases those comments are due entirely to a figment of one's imagination.  John 14:6 says, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
         You can't bypass Jesus and expect to arrive at heaven.  The Lord Jesus Christ was very emphatic about how one gets to heaven and it wasn't by being  better than the next person, or being a particular political party or even by being a member of an evangelical church.  It also is not made possible by signing a card or by going up the aisle at an evangelistic service.  The Lord Jesus Christ said that there was but one way to heaven.  Notice that the verse says, "I am the way....no man cometh unto the Father but by me."    If a person is going to be making the trip to heaven then it is necessary to make the reservation now.  The Apostle Paul was asked by the Philippian jailer how to be saved and Paul answered, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in that passage that we find in Acts 16:31.  Believing in the saving Power of the Lord Jesus Christ is also preceded by repentance for one's sins.  Again, Acts 2:38 and Acts 3:19 to repent of our sins.  That means to be sorry for your sins, not just you realize that you got caught by someone else and you cried a lot or put up a big fuss.  We need to be sorry for our sins and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Many souls are going to end up at the Great White Throne judgment and say, "Oops!"  They will then try to rationalize their presence at that judgment by saying how many things they had done for Him but He will say, "Depart from me.  I never knew you."  What a terrible day that will be for so many souls who tried to sneak into heaven by their one of two good works that they thought would make them eligible for a place in heaven.  The obituaries often begin with the words. "so and so went home to be with the Lord..."  We would hope and pray that people would have that personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ now.  After all, He is the way!  Praise God today for the extended invitation to make a reservation in heaven.