This may sound really simple, but I don’t think that you can get into heaven without being fully in love with Jesus. I have yet to find anywhere in the Bible where it says that I can love Jesus with anything less than 100% of me and still make it to heaven. In the past three months, my eyes have been opened to this revolutionary idea. I discovered that I absolutely have to love Jesus above ALL else… or else I’m going to Hell. I can’t value myself, girls, sports, music, family, friends, high school, money, or anything above God. If I do, I cannot make it into heaven. It may sound harsh, but the Bible makes this clear.
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” The seed thrown on any other place other than the good soil never really grew. Only the seed that fell on good soil was considered a crop. So it is with when you follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit will only move in good soil. It won't dwell in any other soil, or type of person. But when the Gospel lands amongst those who are seeking for truth (those who strive to follow Jesus), it grows fruitfully and produces a wonderful harvest.
Then a teacher of the law came to Him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." Another disciple said to Him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."
Jesus demands that we give up everything to follow Him. He won't accept any other option. He demands ultimate surrender or He'll give us the ultimate punishment. We have to be willing to surrender every part of our lives to God. There is no other option that will allow us to truly love Jesus.
5 comments:
I agree but you almost make it sound like we have to love Him flawlessly. Yes, I believe that God does call us to love Him with our heart soul, mind and strength, but each of us at some point or another do fall into idolatry, just where we let other things grab our attention.
Real salvation will be manifested in our love for Him. You will be able to pick out Christians by their love for Christ. But our eternity doesn't depend on that, it depends on Christ's love for us. Which is unfailing. Good thing...because if it depended on my love-I would surely burn in hell. :)
Just my thoughts.
I'm sorry if it came across that I said we should be perfect, for this is not my intent. I appreciate you bringing this up. Here are my beliefs: The point of our existence is to love Jesus. Many people put emphasis on getting into heaven, and while this goal seems very important, we won’t get into heaven if we don’t love Jesus. Therefore it is more important to focus on our love for Jesus than going to heaven. If we aren’t in love with Jesus, we won’t go to heaven. I cannot find anywhere in Scripture where it says otherwise. I believe that Jesus wants not 25%, not 50%, not 75%, but 100% of our love and obedience. Again, I’m not saying we must be perfect; Jesus never commanded that. But if a person isn’t willing to obey, suffer, step out, or even die for Jesus, based on Scripture, I don’t think that person really loves Jesus. What do you think?
I think...I couldn't have said it better. :) Thank you for being humble enough to re-explain instead of being annoyed by my pointing it out. Good quality. ;)
Your post above did seem a little unclear-but I agree with what you have said here. It some times does seem like everyone is all I-don't-want-to-go-to-hell-I'll-just-"love"-Jesus-for-His-benefits oriented instead of "Jesus died for me. That's how intense His love is. How can I be loving Him back?"
Yes yes and yes. It's a huge problem. I really think that if it isn't evident in your life that are loving the Lord you need to be checking yourself (The Bible does say to examine yourself-least you be deceived) to make sure you aren't deceived, because "They'll know we are Christians by our love."
Thanks for the positive feedback! I read back through my post and decided it deserves a re-write. I'll look at it again in the near future. Keep commenting on my blog! I love all your comments!
Haha! I love reading....keep posting. ;)
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