“For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved'” (Rom. 10:13, MEV).
Heaven will be amazing. You’ll be reunited with loved ones who know the Lord. You’re going to be rewarded for your faith. You’re going to be reassigned a position of work that you love to do. You’ll be released from pain, depression, despair, shame, and guilt.
You’ll rejoice and party for eternity!
Spending an eternity in heaven is a free gift that you never need to earn. You can only get to heaven by the grace of God. It’s the best deal anyone will every offer to you.
But there’s a catch. The Bible says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13, MEV).
To receive the grace of God, you have to call out to him. You have to accept the amazing grace of God.
If you were to find a gift on your table tomorrow morning and you left it there for the next year wrapped and unopened, that would be pretty dumb. A gift is worthless unless you actually accept it.
The same is true for God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. It means nothing to you unless you accept it.
And God longs to give you the gift of his grace. The Bible says, “The Lord longs to be gracious to you” (Is. 30:18a).
God isn’t mad at you. He won’t reject you. The Bible says God is ready and willing to give you His grace and secure a future for you in heaven.
You just have to accept His grace!
Talk It Over
- Think of someone in your life who needs to hear about the good news of God’s grace.
- What do you think is keeping this person from accepting God’s free gift of grace?
- What about you? If you’ve never accepted the grace of God, what is holding you back?
- Why do you think God doesn’t just accept everyone into heaven no matter what they believe? Why does He want you to do something about it before you have a place in heaven?
Rick Warren New York Times best-seller The Purpose Driven Life. His book The Purpose Driven Church was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for pastors.
For the original article, visit rickwarren.org.
