I was thinking...

I was listening to a podcast recently and I heard something interesting that I’d never thought about before. It was one of those things that made you go “hmm”, so I wanted to share it with you.

The speaker was talking about the grace of God and how most people abuse it. Like Paul says in Romans 6, many just see it as a license to sin because they’re “covered by God’s grace.” They were explaining how that’s not actually what grace does. They then said, which made me think, Heaven shouldn’t be the goal for the Christian. Hmm.

They were right, yet so much of the Christian world believes that it’s our goal in this life. Just to make it into Heaven with God one day. That’s not actually true so let me explain.

Many who believe this usually have a particular mindset. It’s that they think they’re saved, which they are, and they think they then can just do whatever they want. This leads them to believe that they can just do the bare minimum in this life. They start to think, “what’s the least amount of work I can do to get into Heaven.” We ought to not think this way because it can actually harm us.

Just because we had our sins washed away and now receive God’s grace, doesn’t mean it’s a get-out-of-jail-free card. Yes, we are saved, but there is more to be done. Many writers throughout the New Testament tell us we should then bear fruit for God, or as Paul puts it sometimes, be prepared for good works (cf. 1 Timothy 6:18).

So, what is the goal of this life? Well, I explain it a little more here in my book, ‘Time to Grow Up!’, but it’s to become Christ-like. To be like Christ. To mature in a way that prepare us for what Heaven is like. We are supposed to bring Heaven down to Earth (cf. Matthew 6:10).

1 Peter 1:16 says, “…be holy, for I am holy”, and Jesus tells us to “be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). It’s because of God’s grace that this is possible. It’s not a license to sin; it’s our ticket out of it.

Just something to keep in mind as we go about our days. We need to be telling people about this grace that God gives to all men (Titus 2:11), so that they too can experience the joy it brings.