I'm Going To Heaven! (When I Die)

EDIT: I forgot to put this when I made this post - but the invitation for everyone else in the world to go to Heaven and be with God is completely open. All it takes is faith in Jesus Christ - and understanding that we are all dependent upon God's grace. We can't beg, borrow, or steal our way in - He's already got the door open and waiting for those who want it. Do yourself a favor and check Him out some time...

My room beckons to me for a cleaning (very much so) but I wanted to get down that little tidbit (or completely amazing statement, really) before I went into whatever else I will happen to waste the rest of my evening with. Maybe putting it down on my blog and sending it off into the Internet will allow it to resonate a little better.

For those that might actually be coming to this blog with an ever-increasing regularity, I have been having troubles with the newfound path I am on in life: mainly, Christianity. I have been trying to absorb EVERY bit of information about God, Jesus, and pretty much every other religious thing (Christian or not) that is available - all in the chance that I might find out a little better who I am by knowing who made me (and vice versa). In the process, I thought I might find a bit of the faith that I "lack" or am searching for right now.

This evening I went to my service (as usual on Sunday) and it spoke very much to me. The lecture was about greed (which is a completely different conversation than what I plan to express here) and he talked near the end - as sort of a "this is just kinda obvious to everyone" - but which wasn't totally in-tune with me - that it is already done. Jesus took care of everything for me when He willingly sacrificed His life on the cross. The price has been paid - past, present, and future. It is a whole lot bigger than I give it credit for here - but the main thing is that I have already been saved, justified. If I were to slump over dead right now - while writing this sentence - I would go to Heaven. That is something I still don't "believe" totally - just because of how I view myself - and how awesome a gift it is...but it's true. Christ is ALREADY VICTORIOUS! Take that satan!

Either way - all of these things I have been worrying about relate to this heavily. I was trying to find this faith so I could go to Heaven (or be 100% sure that I WAS going). I wanted to do these things to glorify Christ so I could be in good standing. Even though in the back of my mind I knew you can't buy your way in - I still was trying very desperately to do so. I'm already in, ladies and gentlemen, and it freakin' rocks!

I understand now (after Passion) that we are meant to glorify His name, and we are called to spread His glory to the world so that all people might share in the gift we have received. This evening, the speech on greed went a little further to instill that the "old adage" of "sell your possessions and give to the poor" (Luke 12:32-34) is not necessarily JUST about those callings - that is, do not just believe in your hearts what God has said, but go and show it and proclaim it through your actions...and one of those main actions is to be selfless with what God has provided, and to return that gift to Him so that He may use it for His will.

Our speaker this evening talked about while we are in Heaven, we will all have a chance to come before Christ and place at His feet all the good deeds we did on this earth - not as admission into the gates, but as an offering to His glory. Essentially, imagine it as having this great crown that you created on earth (in His glory, of course) and when you get to Heaven, you get to formally place that crown at His feet and recognize Him as Who He really is - The King of Kings. It was a very cool image - and called me to do much more in my life for His glory, so that I might lay a large sum of crowns and "treasures" before His feet, in His honor, for His renown.

This very call does not limit itself to those who believe in Christ. As a Christian, I am doing this so that everyone will know how great God has been to me - and in the end I may let Him know my thankfulness "formally." Even a non-believer (I continue in my posts to say "non-believer" - not that they are always exclusive to inaction, but that they do not believe in certain things that some theists do) can take this message of removing greed from one's life and making more of what we have been given.

I won't quote the entire text - but in Luke (12:16 and beyond) there is a parable that Jesus tells about a rich man who hoarded all he had - and thus built for himself a kingdom on earth in which he felt secure. After all this work (before he was able to "enjoy" his greed), God commanded his life - and thus this great treasure he built for himself was for naught.

Imagine the power of living without luxury. This is not to say that you cannot own a house, or a car - these are things that are "needed" to survive (and you are not a horrible person for enjoying life, even if that may be through certain possessions). But, during the spreading of the message of the gospel, people who had two homes would sell one and give to the poor, two farms - one to the poor. Don't we all have something sitting around the house that we do not need - that could be transformed into some sort of assistance for someone without?

I try right now to call all the people who might come across this to look within themselves. Regardless of whether you happen to have some theistic view of life, there is something you can do. Look in your closet and see if you have old clothes you'll never wear again - how about giving those to the salvation army so that a poor person might HAVE clothes? Have an extra computer that is too old to run anything? Donate it to some cause that could find a use for it. Step back a moment and see if there might be something more we can all do.

I know there have been such great measures and examples of our self-sacrifice in these most recent times, and I commend every person who has already done so - but it shouldn't stop as long as we are able. The mentality of "well, I gave for this and now it's over...so until next time" needs to fade for the realization that the next time is right now.

Not for me, but for His glory. Praise Jesus for His great sacrifice - and for His unending mercy. May the gifts He has given to me be used for His glory, whether in my possession or when returned to His will.

Thanks for listening (reading) my Blog Explosion friends. I have sounded very "preachy" these past few days only because a fire for selflessness has been raised within me. I do not condemn any person who comes here and disagrees with me - and I don't consider myself any better than any other person out in the WWW (or world). There are people out there who are shining examples of what I speak of here - and I don't even consider myself one of them. I just hope that someone that did not think themselves powerful enough to change the world in some way (whether they think it by God or not) could see this and realize that every little bit helps. Have a great day everyone! (Wow, that was really happy-shiny-people type stuff there...)