Will A Lazy Christian Get To Heaven?

Like nothing else in creation we have the ability to choose what we want to do, what we think, where we go, what to believe is limited only by our knowledge and imagination.

We are blessed with freedom of choice but we live with the consequence of those choices.

For a Christian we have this privilege of being accepted into God’s family for a reason. We are not our own, we have been bought with a price! We must remain faithful, putting our own desires aside and stepping into the plan God has for us. The Bible contains many verses about remaining faithful to the end, like these ones:

Understand therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him AND OBEY HIS COMMANDS. Deuteronomy 7:9 NLT

And again in Hebrews:
You should therefore be most careful my brothers, that there should not be in any of you that wickedness of heart which refuses to trust, and deserts the cause of the living God. Help each other to stand firm in the faith every day, while it is still called “today”, and beware that none of you becomes deaf and blind to God through the delusive glamour of sin. For we continue to share in all that Christ has for us so long as we steadily maintain until the end the trust with which we began. These words are still being said for our ears to hear: ‘Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion’.

For who was it who heard the Word of God and yet provoked his indignation? Was is not all who were rescued from slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses? And who was it with whom God was displeased for forty long years? Was it not those who, after all their hearing of God’s Word, fell into sin, and left their bones in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they should never enter his rest? Was it not these very men who refused to trust him?

Yes, it is all too plain that it was refusal to trust God that prevented these men from entering his rest. Hebrews 3:14-19 PHILLIPS

Place Your Life Before God
1 Corinthians 7, “God has chosen the foolish things of the world…” Including you and me.
In this clip, Christine Cain explains that it’s not about us, but how great God is!

Romans 12:
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvellously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.

If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

Love from the centre of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fuelled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. Romans 12

He does what’s best for those who fear him—hears them call out, and saves them.
God sticks by all who love him, but it’s all over for those who don’t. Psalm 145:19-21

And this is the way to have eternal life—by knowing you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth! 4 I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to. 5 And now, Father, reveal my glory as I stand in your presence, the glory we shared before the world began. John 17:3-5

Later in one of his talks, Jesus said to the people, “I am the Light of the world. SO IF YOU FOLLOW ME, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, for living light will flood your path.” John 8:12

I hope the wisdom in these verses has touched you deep inside as you consider where you are in relation to Him right now. I don’t know why He chose to use us as His ambassadors but He did.

Don’t shrink back!

“But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” Hebrews 10:38-39 NIV

Please share this and bring hope and light to someone else’s world!
2018 Elaine Costin – Capturing Sunrise / Blog