There are some who believe that if you are a good person, then you go to heaven… that is if there is one. I am sure that you have heard at least someone say, “I’m a good person. If there is a heaven I will be there. I never killed anyone.” Or something along those lines.
It would seem that they believe that you can prove that you deserve to be a citizen of heaven. They act as though there is an application process, that you have to have permission from “earth” (organized religion) to get a visitor’s visa to heaven, and then, once you are there… you do everything you can to demonstrate that you truly should be a citizen.
There is a much easier way though. And it is the same way many people find themselves being quickly accepted into a new country…
Through marriage.
That is, of course, by becoming the bride of Christ. When we surrender to Christ, when we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, we are betrothed to Him. We become His bride. And with that we gain instant citizenship to heaven.
I wonder… why is it then that we act more as a citizen of this world rather than an ambassador to it?
When we become a citizen of heaven, we transfer our place of residence. There is no dual-citizenship in His plan. “In the world… not of it.”
When we take His name as our own we also take the responsibility to live up to it. Not in a sense that we do everything right… not in the sense of a rigid system of laws… but in the law of grace.
Citizens of heaven… whom we are… need to be ambassadors of heaven as long as they are walking this earth in these earthen vessels.
If you want to become a citizen of heaven, and not take up eternal residence as a citizen of hell… then all you have to say is…
“I do”
to Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and new life.
I can hear the wedding bells.
SDG
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