But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: The one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked.     1 John 2:5-6 HCSB

Have you ever questioned your salvation? Do you know beyond a doubt if you died today or the rapture happened today, you would be taken up to heaven to be with God the Father? We are either saved and destined to spend eternity with God the Father in heaven or we are headed for hell. This is an eternal destination from which there is no coming back or do-overs, so we need to be sure.

In order for us to get into heaven, we must be saved. We are told in James 4:7-8 to submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you, cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people. We must achieve this perfection to get into heaven. How do we do this?

Once we draw near to Him and He draws near to us, we confess our sins and repent. He is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We must not be naive and think at this point our fight is finished. Our fight is not finished until God calls us to our eternal home.

Our Scripture passage tells us that the love of God is perfected in us when we keep His word. This is how we know we are in Him. Then once we are in Him and remain in Him, we should walk as He walked. Jesus Christ came to earth and lived a perfect, sinless life. Can we do this? No, we can’t. But we should strive to do our best to obey His commands.

We are told in James 1:22 to be doers of the word and not hearers only. We can warm a church pew every time the church doors are opened, but it does us no good if we are not willing to obey His commands.

When we have submitted to God as we are told in James 4:7 we want to obey Him. When we have faith in Him, we believe in who He is and what He can do for us. We have a reverential fear or awe of Him and His awesome power. We understand the need to love Him with all our hearts and our soul and our minds. We understand the need to love others as we love ourselves. We want to obey Him and to serve Him.

Our pastor often asks, “If you got saved, what were you saved from?” If you walked the aisle and got baptized, but nothing in your life changed, you might want to do a little self-examination. You need to pray to God about His will for your life. You need to dedicate yourself to Him and trust in Him and be obedient to His word.

The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart. When we do this, we put Him above all else in our lives. He has first place in our lives. He is before any relationships here on earth. He is before jobs and money and all the other things that distract us.

We are told in Matthew 6:33 that if we first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all we need will be provided for us.

If you think you are kind of saved or sort of saved, please understand this will not get you into heaven. In Mark 8:34-38, Jesus explained what it meant to follow Him. He said we must deny ourselves and take up our cross. He said if want to save our life we will lose it. He then asked what it benefits someone to gain the whole world yet lose his life.

Life on earth is temporary. All things here are passing away. Hold on to what is eternal. Put God first in your life.

My friend, there is nothing in this world worth holding on to if it costs you an eternity in hell. I beg of you to give that some careful consideration.

Have a great day!