Faith gets you into heaven. Whose faith? Faith in what? One time faith? What is heaven? Do dogs go to heaven? Just the utterance of the word faith conjures up many thoughts, topics, ideas, and beliefs. I have faith in God the Father almighty, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Does that mean I understand completely the work and persons who make up the triune God? Absolutely not. Our faith as Christians is not an end all stopping point for what we believe. It is an entry point. It will not get us into heaven, but it will start us on a path with God who nurtures, cares, and loves us. It is important to know that we are not alone because God is with us, but also because we are brought into a community of faith built upon belief.
Abraham had faith, and turned into an action--to follow and trust God. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus. It seems that those familiar words hinder us, lock us down because of our free choice. We want to be able to choose whether to obey or not. Our faith in God is a submissive faith. It is an obedient faith. Sure, we mess up; try and fail. However, because God is a loving God, we find ourselves in the midst of God's embrace. Our goal as heaven is not a goal as a reward for obedience, for faith, for belief or defense of the faith. Heaven as our goal is a place where we can be with the Lord, where our obedience continues not because we are seeking a reward. Heaven--being in the house of the LORD, in the presence of God--is a reward unto itself. Oh, that we would all be gatekeepers in the house of the LORD.
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