The musings of Peter

I just listened to a preacher talk about Grace and Salvation. It seems that God has promised Salvation to all, He has given anyone who calls on His name and proclaims Jesus as his Lord and Savior a ticket to Heaven. There is no Pugatory, God in His infinite Love accepts and forgives all.

With this kind of message, his church should be full. In his construct, God has made a promise and we have no responsibility or requirement past the acknowledging of Jesus. Interestingly the Bible paints a very different picture. A consistently different picture. The Bible makes it clear that actions speak louder than words. There is even a parable about a rich man giving alms and a widow, where Jesus says God looks at your heart, not your actions. You can do “good” things for the wrong reason.

the Truth? I am a simple person. I believe that the path to Heaven was laid out. Jesus gave us the prayer the Our Father. In it we ask God to forgive us as we forgive others. That’s hard and already a bump in the road. If you get to Heaven and God says…I am gonna hold a grudge, like you did. I am never going to forgive you, like you did to so and so… thats going to be hard to hear. We say that prayer a lot, hard to say we didn’t really mean it.

Than there is that love your neighbor as yourself. If my neighbor is the poor guy at the train station, I may have a problem. If it’s my actual neighbor…I am not sure I even know his name, we don’t see each other that much and don’t socialize. Do I love that person at all? The phrase sounds so easy, but it’s understandable that God wants a specific application and He is going to grade our performance.

Nit going to mention the good Samaritan story or the rich man whom Jesus told to sell all his belongings, that would make the road to Heaven uncomfortable.

Grace. That is what Jesus offers to help us. First it would seem that Grace redeems us. At some point it taps us on our shoulder and says, Jesus loves you and can help if you ask. I think that us called redeeming Grace. Or Actual Grace. Not sure the name matters, just that it is there and actually exists. Lots of people have stories about conversion moments. So it is real.

But what comes next seems to be tricky. Jesus knocks on our door, we are in need, we let Him in. We now feel safe, our problems are alleviated, we have peace. Than He says, hey…your living room is a mess let’s clean it up. Sweep the floor, get some new drapes. Move the furniture around, throw out some stuff. We take a moment…the couch is broken in and we like where it is, the drapes are old but new ones cost money and require work. Sweeping is alright , but the rest? And us He gonna do this to the whole house? My friends won’t know who I am.

It is a possibility that you may ask Jesus, who just redeemed you…to leave or ask Him to just sit on your old couch while you ponder, arguing with yourself about how much you actually need Jesus now that the danger is past . The story of most saints is that Jesus cleaned the whole house. The holier you get, the less money you have in the bank, the less earthly possessions, the more you pray, the more you put others first, That is sanctifying Grace. It doesn’t make sense at the beginning, it makes sensecwhen we get to Heaven.

Can you enter Heaven if you aren’t 100% the person God wants you to be? I dint think so. It would be like going to a wedding without pants on. In the perfection if Heaven, imperfection would stand out. And make Heaven less perfect. We seems to have a certain moment of time on this earth, enough to clean up our souls. My guess us many if us die while still procrastinating. But God gives us a little more time is He sees we really were trying. He let’s us go to a locker room to train a little more, to clean ourselves up. To get some pants. While we may have had doubts about what we need to get to Heaven here on earth, in the afterlife I believe we will be much clearer. We will know. God will ask us to show Him, by our actions, that we are really His people. We will still have free will, all we have to do is give up our ego, ask for mercy, agree that we are not in a position to negotiate.

Now some believe that it’s easier to get into Heaven. God has made a promise, He doesn’t lie. Except He made that promise to those who love Him. Trying to take advantage of His mercy, that isn’t loving Him. Assuming that you can do whatever you want, and demanding a place in Heaven, we’ll that make Gid an innkeeper and you a paying guest. Unless you have a lot of heavenly currency, you may not be able to afford the room. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Our “friend” Jesus will ultimately be our judge. Our earthly friends will never be in that position most likely. Jesusbisnt our friend, He is our lord who is friendly.

Maybe you have other ideas. In the end, Jesus will let us know who is right, and being wrong would be devastating.