Praise
the Lord!!
"Not
everyone who says to me , ‘Lord, Lord, ’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but
only he who does the will of my Father . " (Matthew 7:21)
The
Bible tells of certain spiritual requirements needed by us to enter into the
kingdom of God. Do we have these? Firstly, in Matthew 5:20, Jesus said, “Unless
your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law,
you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” The Pharisees liked to
display their spirituality. Everything they did was done for men to see. But
Jesus warned us that our righteousness should not be like this. He insisted
that we should have inward righteousness - humility, love, compassion and so
on. Secondly, we should have a child-like spirit. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus said,
“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you
will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Little children are innocent, they do
not hold grudges against anyone, even those who harm them, they are humble and
they trust others wholeheartedly. Jesus told that we need to have such
child-like simplicity to enter God's Kingdom. Thirdly, when talking to
Nicodemus in John 3:5, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the
kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” Though all human
beings have experienced natural birth on earth, if they expect to go to heaven,
they must experience a supernatural spiritual birth from above. What is this?
Warren
Wiersbe writes, “To be born of water is to be born physically, but to be born
again means to be born of the Spirit. Just as there are two “parents” for
physical birth, so there are two “parents” for spiritual birth - the Spirit of
God (John 3:5) and the Word of God. (James 1:18). The Spirit of God takes the
Word of God and when the sinner believes, imparts the life of God.” Fourthly,
we need to repent from our sinful ways. In Luke 13:3 Jesus said, “Unless you
repent, you too will all perish”, and in John 8:24 He says, “If you do not
believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”
Only Jesus saves us from eternal death. Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in
no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we
must be saved.”
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank
you for saving me from eternal death through your Son Jesus Christ. Help me to meet
all the spiritual requirements to enter heaven. Let me have inward
righteousness and a child-like spirit. Holy Spirit, strengthen me each moment
to live in holiness. Amen.
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