I got my own ideals about God and God is alright with that!
That was my mindset during my late teenage years into my very early 20’s. No doubt there are millions upon millions of people today, old and young that think the same way I did. So what’s wrong with that? If you feel like you need to go to church and read the Bible and all that stuff, that’s good. I am not going to knock that, but that’s not what I feel like I need to do. I am just going to live my life, try to treat people right and just enjoy life and when it’s my time to go, I feel like,.. I am alright with God. I believe in God. I might not go to church, but I believe in God. I just believe in my heart that God is going to let me into heaven because He knows I am not a bad person. That was how I felt, like so many other people, but is that what God actually said?
The reason it’s important to ask that question is because where I want to go when I leave this world is Heaven. That’s where we all want to go. That’s where God is. That’s God’s house. That’s the Heaven city, a place that is so beautiful that our minds can’t even conceive just how Beautiful it is. It’s where God’s throne is. It is a place where God wants you and I to live with Him forever when we breath our last breath and leave this life, but let me say this again less we forget,.. Heaven is God’s house… It’s God’s city,..It is the place where God’s throne,. is and because that’s so,.. it is God,.. not me,.. that decides what’s necessary to get there. It is what God said,..not what I feel, or what you may feel, that will decide if we go to that Heavenly city.
In the Old Testament book of Proverbs, chapter 21, verse 2,. God speaks about our feelings:
2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
But the LORD weighs the hearts… (Proverbs 21:2)
Also in Proverbs 14:12,… God says this:
12 There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death…( Proverbs 14:12)
So according to that verse which God said, I could live my whole life doing what seems right to me, and end up not going to heaven when I die, but end up eternally lost, separated from God,.. forever. Jesus Christ gives us a example of that very thing in Matthew 7:21-23,
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’…..( Matthew 7:21-23)
Oh beloveth,… beloveth is what God calls us, pause a minute and think about what Jesus Christ is saying here. Not everyone who calls Him Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven. They may feel that they will,.. but Jesus said no,..not everyone will. Some who believe themselves to be Christians will not enter Heaven,.. even though they preach in His name,..even though they do wonders in His name..Wow. Three crucial mistakes Jesus Christ points to here. One, although they felt they knew who Jesus Christ was,.. the Lord,.. they never knew Him as their Lord. He tells them in verse 23, that they practice lawlessness’. Second, they felt that doing many kinds of works, preaching and wonders in Jesus’ name assured them a place in Heaven. Critical mistake on their part. They trusted their works to get into Heaven, not God’s work. Finally, they felt their will would get them to Heaven so they didn’t seek God’s will. Jesus said those who enter Heaven are those who do the will of My Father who is in heaven..(verse #21).
So, is God alright with me feeling like I just what to live my life the way I want to and me and Him are good so long as I try to just be the best person I can even if I am not involved in all that Church stuff. I think we can clearly see the answer to that is no. Anyone that does not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord and trust Him as their Savior. Some people we know them but they don’t know us. We see them on TV. To enter Heaven, we must know Jesus Christ as our personal Lord but more importantly, He must know us as one who has invited Him into our life as Lord.