Would we go to heaven after death?

Everybody, not just Christians, everybody would long to know all the methods or rules to be followed to go to heaven after we die. We all should know if our belief in this regard is right. We should also know our exact status in this quest.

Christianity                                                                                                                                                                                       

Yes. We all worship the one true God. But we also will agree that not all of us who worship our God will reach heaven. There are many more qualities required in this.

I remember a movie where they show an old pastor evangelizing. The only words he would use is that “All other methods are wrong. Only the Pentecostal method is right”. This pastor was the role model for the hero to turn to Christ in the movie.

Frankly, it is pathetic for the pastor to express the gospel so. Maybe this was the writer’s understanding of the gospel. Sadly, this is the exact state of many Christians thinking that one model of worshiping is the only right method and all others will go to hell.

Righteousness

We all would like to live a clean and perfect life of good standards. When we compare ourselves with fellow Christians, it will be very convincing that we are so better than most others. I pray for hours a day. I do not smoke or drink. I pay my taxes perfectly. etc.

God has one word to our righteousness. Garbage. (Is 64:6)

The actual requirement

Our righteousness has no value in God’s eyes.  It is GRACE that makes us deserving candidates in God’s eyes. (Rom 3:24).

GRACE

If we think our actions are what God is looking for, the whole concept of the Gospel becomes wrong. The first part of the Gospel is that “For God so loved the earth (us).” He loves us not to become slaves who do just what God has told us to do. He requires heirs who love him.  (Gal 4:7)

Jesus’s death on the cross has liberated us from sin. Though we are unworthy recipients, the price paid for our salvation is so high. Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law (Mat 5:17). So, the law was unfulfilled till Jesus died. This points that our sins are so high that justice is not served even when we give Him huge sacrifices or when we are punished or even killed. It required God himself to suffer and be punished. This is the amount of purity required in the sacrificial lamb.

And God does not stop with that. He loves us to an extent that we are not required to work hard in making ourselves presentable to Him. He does all the work himself. All we have to do is allow Him (Holy Spirit) to come inside and cleanse us.

This is how Christianity differs from all other religions. All other religions require actions from humans to reach God. But, Christianity says all actions are performed by God to bring us to heaven. All we have to do is believe in him.

FAITH

Our belief in God is also to be questioned here. What do we believe in God. We all believe that God exists and his Son died for us. But, faith is a little more than that. Faith is complete trust on God. (Heb 11:1). But faith loses its meaning if not complemented with action (James 2:14 onwards)

This means in any time of trouble, however huge it is we would not let the trouble bother us. If we tremble, it simply means that we do not believe God’s existence.

The display of our faith should be in everything we do. Lying, yelling, quarrelling, selfishness, giving bribes, sinning against the local country’s laws and many more are full examples of our lack of faith. We should also understand faith has the word faithfulness derived from it. Are we faithful to Him?

I love Brother Zac Poonen’s definition of faith:

Faith is our complete belief that:

1.       God is all powerful. There is nothing that he cannot do.

2.       God is all wise. He has this great wisdom providing us only with what we actually need and only at the right time.

3.       God’s love is endless. He loves us more than our mothers do. He cares for us and understands us.

If we tremble, it means that either we do not believe in God or we think that God cannot do, or does not know or does not love us. 

LOVE Towards God

This happens to be the most highest quality we have to possess. (Mark 12:29)  We have received the biggest gift from God and are enjoying it in full. God expects us to love him back. Our love for him will help us:

·         Allow the spirit to come inside and work on our soul.

·         Submit our lives to him so that everything we do will be for Him.

·         Not allow any of our actions harm His Name.

·         Love our fellow human beings. God has given the same opportunity we have to everybody out there.

The main problem with Christians is that our hearts are hardened to a good extent that our love is handicapped or even dead. It is always the first time we will be so guilty about sinning. Now a days, we have got very much used to sin that it does not seem like sin anymore.

Jesus said that “we will keep his commandments, if we love Him”. Any breach simply means that we have lost our love towards him. Losing our love makes us ungrateful cowards. We do not value the price paid at the cross.

One another instance where we show our lack of love is when we do not obey to commandments like Baptism, Communion etc. God wanted us to follow us these in publicly declaring our transition towards him and then our consistent submission. If we claim that we do not need this as there is no law, we simply are telling him that we do not love him enough.

We should seek to do every action that pleases God.

In Col 1:9 onwards, We read that the knowledge we earn should be to understand His will and look to please God, only this works towards spiritual growth.

SPIRITUAL GROWTH

If we have actually received the Holy Spirit, we should let him work and help us grow in Christ. This growth essentially is in:

1.       Shedding away everything which is not Christ like.. one by one.

2.       Adding good qualities one by one so that we become like Christ.

Rom 8:29.  The predestination to become christlike means that becoming Christ like becomes our destiny. This is not an easy task. We have to grow up towards him.

Having great knowledge on the bible does us no good unless it changes us. Applying or submitting ourselves to everything what we have learnt does. We should be praying that God helps us understand and remove everything inside us that does not please him. (Ps 139:24)

If we are staying in grade 1 for 10 years, it is never a normal behavior.  But, we seem to enjoy ourselves in a single phase for many decades. Simply implies that we have come to Christ for our comfort and nothing more. We should be allowing the Holy Spirit to work on, mould and grow us. This will please God.

God looks us like his Children. A first grader and a PHd cannot be weighed or judged equally. This is one stupidity many of us show. If smoking is a serious offence to one and you cannot bear it, the other guy maybe in grade 1 which he will give up soon. I believe (Just me. This may be true) that we can see many good Catholics and Muslims in heaven but many pastors will not make it. They worship the same God we do, but with lack of understanding of Grace, they could not pass the basic steps. It will not be fair for a God who loves us so big to cast somebody to hell for lack of knowledge.

But for us, it will bring God’s wrath. Our lives, after receiving Grace, has not reflected God enough to them. Jesus himself said that it is better for somebody causes another to stumble, it is better for him to die immediately in a cruel way. We do not see Christ being angry at gentiles. We should see that Christ was angry only with believers, pastors, elders and those who make money at God’s place. If we do not display Christ, we will be punished severely in deep hell more than people who have not received Christ.

If we judge somebody, it implies that we hate him. How can we reach heaven if we hate somebody God loves. Our efforts in pleasing God essentially points at loving everybody He loves.

2 Peter 3:18. Growth here means that we are supposed to get more and more knowledge of Godliness and come closer and closer to Christlikeness.

1 Thes 3:12  Here, the growth points to our increase in love towards our heavenly father.

Summary

To conclude, we can understand that to reach heaven, one should:

1.       Receive God’s grace.

2.       Believe in him completely.

3.       Love him unconditionally.

4.       Grow in him towards Christlikeness.

Soften my heart

Soften my heart

O My Gracious God

Let my hardness fall

I should love you more

Through all my wickedness

Your grace preserved me

When forgiveness was quick
Lost the price of grace

The one culprit

My heart, now a stone

The rudeness in me

Ignored the pain of love

Everytime I fall
Soften my heart; Let 

My repentance be true

Before mercy flows

Soften my heart

I should keep the cross

Safely in my heart

Where love shall keep me clean

My face your light will glow

Keeping all your ways

Shining endlessly

When I love you more

A prayer for pardon

கருணை நிறைந்த கண்களை

எப்படி நான் காண்பேன்

குப்பையில் இருந்து உயர்த்திய

பேரன்பை மறந்து விட்டேன்

என் எதிரிகள் முன்பாக

நான் நல்லவன் ஆக

தூய்மையின்  தலைவன் நீர்

துரோகி போல் நின்றீர் அல்லோ 

தியாகத்தின் உச்சம் நீர்

அதன் விலையினை நான் மறந்தேன்

மீண்டும் மீண்டும் உம்மை

நான் தோல்வியுற செய்தேனையா

உம் நேசத்தை மறவாமல் நான்

இருக்க வேண்டுமையா

நான் உண்மையாய் நேசித்திருந்தால்

வீரமாய் நின்றிருப்பீன் 

கல்லாய் நிற்கும் என்னை

உடைத்து உருக்குமே

உண்மை அன்பிற்கு என்னை

உருக்கமாய் அடிபணிவேன்

பெலவீன பாண்டம்  என்னை

ஆவியில் நிறைத்திடுமே

வெற்றியின் கொடிகள் ஏந்தி 

தொடர்ந்து நிமிர்ந்திடுவேன்

பாவமாம் என் தேகத்தை

பலியாய் படைக்கிறேன்

முற்றிலும் எரித்துவிட்டு

புதிதாய் மாற்றிடுமே

Psalms 139

Psalms 139

God knows us indefinitely
1.    He searches us and spends time to understand our inner selves.  (v1). God loves us to that extent.
2.    Doesn't just know our thoughts, but perceives them. (v2)
3.    Understands why we go out or just plan to rest at home. (v3)
4.    Familiar with all our ways. He knows our priorities, character, tastes and desires. He knows all the options that are open in front of us.
5.    Before I speak a work, you know it completely. (v4) This may be misunderstood that God does a prophet or a magician's role by knowing what we are about to speak. That is true. However, knowing God just as a super power does not help us anywhere. We need to meditate on the word "completely" in the verse. He knows the inner intentions while we are speaking. Not just the words, but what we are planning to do by saying the words.
6.    He knows us from the womb and even when we were unformed. He was carefully crafting us to become wonderful creatures. (v14)

Where we are
1.    The knowledge is wonderful for me. (v6). Not just surprising, but wonderful. I am happy. Are we happy to know that God knows everything about us? Are we keeping ourselves ready to God to search and understand us?
2.    Too lofty to attain (v6). I have no idea how God entered my mind and has searched. I cannot find how deep God knows me. The only way to preserve myself is to keep myself clean as deeper as I can.
3.    I cannot flee or escape God's presence. Our God is omni-present.
4.    Where ever I run you are there (vs 8,9,10,11,12).
5.    Interestingly, the above verses mention about height, depth, distance and darkness. These can simply point to :
a.    However honored and proud (high) I become, God will be there to control me.
b.    However drowned I am in sorrow (deep), God will be there to comfort me.
c.    However far I run away (distant) from God, God will be there to guide me.
d.    However sinful I am (dark), God will find me.

This is a great encouragement and warning we receive from our God.
6.    God thoughts are precious to us. (v 17,18) He plans for our care, forgiveness, salvation, sanctification. We were so unworthy,  but our God, He constantly works for our salvation.

What we should do
Allow God to search, test and guide us. (v 23, 24).

God really needs to know how bad we are so that we could be cleansed. We should remember that he is both the Judge (Father) and the only Hope out of damnation (Jesus).  We should display our willingness to let God inside us and let him clean our hearts.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
(Rev 3 : 20)

Giving to God

Lev 1:3 'Let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD.

God says "Cursed" is a man who does not offer his best to him. We need to question ourselves if we are offering our best to God. In Leviticus 1 -5 we see the different types of offerings God commanded people to give. We can see an important pattern in these offerings. 1. Male without blemish, 2. To bring to the tabernacle's gate and 3. Keep the hand on the animal's head.

We should understand that God is very particular about three factors here.

1.       What are we bringing to God.

2.       Where are we bringing it.

3.       How are we bringing it.

For us Christians, we give many stuff to God. Primary items we give are Money, Time, Life, Family and Praise& Worship. We'll have to think about what, where and how these offerings are given to God. We shall get in detail of the burnt offering mentioned in Leviticus 1 for our meditation today.

1.       Male without blemish

Whatever we give to God should be the best. If it is not the best we have, the bible says we are cursed. He expects us to spend time in considering or making the selection. If we think there is any problem in the offering we make, we should stop there.

Even when we worship at church, if our worship is not completely focused on God, or is not the best we are able to give, it becomes completely worthless.

The gifts are supposed to be pure and clean. Remember, their intestines and legs which contact any kind of dirt are to be washed before sacrificing.

Aaron's sons tried to add their content to the fire. They were consumed by the fire. The fire burning inside us during our worship should be pure from God. If otherwise, we will be consumed.

2.       At free will

The gifts we give to God should be our full complete will and heart. Jesus wanted us to love our God with "all our heart, all our mind and all our soul". This is very important. Unless we love Him and remember His sacrifice for us, we'll not able to give with our free will. Unless we give with our complete will, the gift becomes completely worthless.

2 Cor 9: 7 - God is very happy with a cheerful giver.

2 Cor 8 : 5. The Macedonian church was poor. But they were generous. The reason for this is because, they first gave themselves up to God. Second came the money and other show of generosity etc.

As we read in Mathew 19:21, the young man is expected to give up all his treasures. Jesus was pointing at his love for money.

Again, when we worship, if our will does not exalt God completely lowering the self, it becomes worthless.

3.       At the tabernacle's gates

a)      This implies that we give the sacrifice to God and let God do his part. We do not get to explain or even assist in using the gifts. When offering ourselves, we do not get to choose what we ought to do. But, its God who decides and uses us according to his will. Our will stops at submitting ourselves to God.

Ps 46:10 - In times of trouble, stop struggling and know that I am God.

John 12:26 - If anyone serves me, will follow me. This means "follow quietly. No questions asked..."

This also explains the necessity of trusting in God. A requirement for Faith. Prov 3:6 - Trust in the Lord and he'll make your paths straight.

b)      This also displays our actual position. However big we can be. Kings or filthy rich men, politicians everybody gets to stand outside. There is nothing good in us unless God uses us.

James 2:10, Rom 6:23, Rom 2:11 (KJV only), Rom 3:10.

c)       A public proclamation. Otherwise, only the Levites can witness this. The slaughter should happen so that everybody can see that your gift (or yourselves) completely belongs to God. Examples are Aaron & Son's anointing at the entrance of the tent. (Lev 8:3 onwards). A Nazirite after his period would shave his hair off in the entrance of the tent.  (Num 6:18)

4.       Slaughters at the gate

The gifts we present to God have to lose their pride and become zero. The life in them, the ability to decide on its own should be lost completely. The gifts also lose their shape and dignity. Our worship and other gifts should be like that. Lowering ourselves to the lowest extent. When we come to God, we should remember that we have nothing good in ourselves.

Mat 16:24,25.

Gal  5:17  : Flesh vs Spirit.

5.       Lays his hand on the animal

This denotes an act of substitution. The gift we are offering is just a substitute of ourselves. All the pride in us have got to be slaughtered and killed before God accepts. Our worship also needs to be on the same pattern. "Father, during this worship, I am offering myself completely to you for your use. This sacrifice of worship denotes that I belong completely to you."

Again a public proclamation that this animal substitutes me in the offering. Everybody listen, I am the one to be killed, but this Animal is being slaughtered instead.

Even though it is out of context, it is our duty to always proclaim the gospel.  Jesus was killed instead of us. We have to remember him always.

Rom 12:1 - Bodies as a living sacrifice.

        Without blemish, with your complete will, with humility and slaughtered at the gate.

It is Finished. (John 19:30)

This was one of the final words Jesus spoke just before giving up his spirit.

It takes lots of strong doubtless confidence to utter such a sentence before one dies. Nobody ever in planet earth has mentioned so. Even if Paul said that "I have run my race well" in 2 Tim 4:7, he speaks about his personal life. He has just finished his race and its upto God to decide if he has really won it. Of course Paul did win his race.

If Jesus really did finish his work so perfectly, what did he actually come for? What did he accomplish?

1. 1 Tim 1:15 - He came to save us (sinners). He did that.
2. Mark 2:17 - Before saving us, he called us towards repentance.
3. Luke 19:10 - Before calling us, he was seeking us.
4. Mat 20:28 - To give his life as a ransom.
5. John 10:10 - For us to have abundant life.
6. Mathew 5:!7 - To fulfill law (Old testament).

All the above verses clearly point at one thing. His requirement to come to this filthy world was for our salvation.

Interestingly, if Jesus fulfilled law in the cross, it means that "the law" was unfulfilled till Jesus died. Even if the Jews received a lot of punishment or gave big sacrifices to be forgiven, Jesus says that it was not a fair thing that happened. Our sins are so huge that it required God himself to come down, suffer and die. Nothing compensated our sins but the pure and innocent blood of Jesus. We should understand how expensive salvation is.

Another interesting thing to note:

Jesus could have said "It is finished" at Gethsemane, after His resurrection or even just before his ascension. But, He said this after the suffering at the cross and before giving up His spirit. This simply means that the sole purpose of His visit was the cross and as a result, our salvation. He did not come to perform great miracles or to display Himself as a king or God. He came only to save us.

Psalms 103 : 1

Bless the Lord, my soul.

We do not read anywhere in the bible "O my body, praise the lord."

There are mentions in the bible of "Praying in the spirit" & "Praising in the spirit". 1 Cor 14:14,15  

The reason is that the body (flesh), being our primary enemy would always try to oppose your relationship with God. We may translate this as the body will not praise God, but the soul will and should.

Galatians 5:17 - The flesh opposes The Holy Spirit. An enemy to the holy spirit cannot praise God, right?

We really need to have this in serious consideration. Our efforts should not be focused on satisfying the flesh, but to satisfy the soul. The flesh always demands, falls to temptation easily and makes everybody a loser.

The soul is the thing within us which defines our character. The soul is the thing that gets punished or enjoys life as a result of what we do. Maybe from God's point of view, we are just souls. Not spirits or bodies. So, safeguarding the soul is the most important thing we should do. We are required to guard our souls Joshua 23:13, Proverbs 4:23, Duet 4:9.

The bible requires the soul to pray and offer your body as a sacrifice to God. (Rom 12:1)

The body at many times becomes the winner causing severe destruction to the soul.

The 1972 Andes flight disaster can be one small example of how bad the flesh can make you. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Andes_flight_disaster

When the body initiates its needs, that is when men lose control and do thefts, rape, cheating and every other known and unknown sins. The body cannot be overcome that easily. Many of us claim to be so clean just because we did not experiences such hardships.

The bible says that sin is a disease to the soul (Ezek: 18:20). Psalms 41:4 - Heal me for I have sinned. Do we give that kind of attention when we sin? We cannot bear a simple mosquito bite are able to hold on to serious sins that bring destruction.

The only way the body loses its control is when we get power. The power is only by The Holy Spirit. (Acts 1: 8). When we get this power, we will be God's witnesses. This is different from the bearing witness condition. Our life will be clean and we will BE witnesses. Again, the soul wins as the  character or the inner person changes. To bear witness, even the flesh can do.

A brother once  told me that the power is given to us only to die for Christ. We should understand how powerful early Christians were. History says that families were eaten by lions together when they stood for Christ. Imagine how hard it would be for a mother to allow her son or daughter to be eaten by Lions an still stand up for Christ. Do we have that kind of power?

Bless the Lord,  my soul.

This experience of our soul blessing God for his support, guidance, protection etc. Blessing is different from thanking. Blessing has a lot of affection and gratitude. My soul, which I have to safely take to the kingdom of heaven, bless God.

The body will forget his mercy that forgave you.

The body will forget his affection that healed you.

The body will forget all his kindness that brought you up from the pit.

The body will forget his love that takes pride in crowning you.

But you O soul, will face the final judgment. Do not forget and ALWAYS remember his loving kindness.