Hey friends!  I am so glad you are here reading Motivational Monday!  Today, I want to address something I wrote in last week’s motivation.  Something I wanted to delete but I knew I needed to address it this week…so, as painful as it is to leave it, I did.

Last week, when I signed off from my motivation I signed it as, “Love, Jennifer  AKA Just some girl trying to get into heaven”.  It was brought to my attention that it could be misleading to some of you reading these messages week after week.  You might think, “well if she’s unsure then I’m unsure.” Well, I’m here today to make sure that I clear the air as much as possible.  So let’s talk about it.

There are times when I am asked about a subject that I believe to be gossip.  As you all know, I am NOT perfect and there are many times I will engage.  But, I have tried to be better about being more intentional in my faith.  Therefore, if I am feeling uncomfortable and I don’t want to say anything negative, my go to answer is, “I don’t know.  I’m just some girl trying to get into heaven”. That’s my way of saying, “I prefer not to answer because it will be ugly and I need to do better.”  Do I think that if I had engaged in the question and was ugly, I wouldn’t get to heaven?  No.  Do I think I’m not going to heaven because I am a sinner?  No.  In fact, I KNOW I am a sinner and I KNOW I’m going to heaven.  

You see, our acceptance into heaven is not how good we have been.  It’s not how many times we attend church, how much we tithe, how kind we are people or how many people we turn to the faith.  Yes, God commands us to do certain things as christians.  And yes, we should 100% do them.  But, if you are like me, you realize the more you study the Bible the more you see how imperfect you are.  You have to understand that sin separates us from God.  Therefore, to get to His dwelling place, it won’t be on merit.  Look at Ecclesiastes 7:20, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.”  By His own Word, He knows we are inherently sin.

In order to get to heaven, a person must first understand they are a sinner, and unable to justify themselves before God on their own. To be saved, all you need to do is believe that Jesus is Lord, that He died as the perfect sacrifice for their sins, and He was resurrected. Once someone has faith in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit secures that person’s salvation until Jesus returns. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13).  One of my daily prayers is, “Lord, please forgive my sins I have committed today and in the past.  Lord, please also forgive the sins I will commit in the future.”  I like to have all my t’s crossed and my i’s dotted. 🙂

Heaven is a magical place with pearly gates, and golden roads.  If it wasn’t God’s place, I would think there would be HIGH security but…He kinda knows EVERYTHING that is going on.  With that being said, you would think surely, there’s more to it to get in, right?  Nope.

Thankfully, it is NOT based on how kind we are or how much we give.  Want to know why?  For every good, there’s at least 2 sins that outweigh it.  I am so thankful that God knows us (because of course He does).  He wants us to be in His kingdom forever.  He’s our Father.  He knew there was no way we were getting to heaven on merit.  Hence, Jesus.  Jesus’s sole purpose was for us.  One man paid the price for ALL of us.  Incredible.

So, if I led you astray with my sign off last week, please know that was not my intention.  And please know that I am so far from perfect.  Maybe that was supposed to happen just for this motivation, right?

Love you all,

Jennifer

AKA Just a girl who is thankful she’s forgiven