What does the Bible actually say about what it takes to get into heaven? How do you guarantee you’ll go there?
Trusting in Jesus, who died and rose to cover what we couldn’t fix ourselves. ‘By grace you have been saved through faith, not of works’ is how Paul puts it.
The thief on the cross was never baptized and never got a chance to do anything good and he still heard ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’ Whatever it is has to be small enough to fit into a dying breath.
How we live still matters. We’re let in first, then we start changing (more on that here).
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By turning from sin and trusting Jesus Christ as Lord. I think as long as you are living as a good Christian and you follow Scripture. John 5:13 says believers can know that they have eternal life because God promised it.
That’s what gives me faith and comfort at night.
The thief did manage one good thing, defending Jesus and asking to be remembered, which shows how small that faith can be.
Ephesians 2:8-9 next to the part about living as a good Christian maybe. Trusting Jesus is the anchor for me.
Small note that it’s 1 John 5:13, and I love that the assurance rests on God’s promise rather than on how well we’re doing.
I used to read assurance the “as long as you are living as a good Christian” way, and my comfort rose and fell with however my week had gone. The knowing in 1 John 5:13 is tied to the believing, it’s written “to you who believe in the name of the Son of God.”
Look up the story of the metal band that went through the Bible looking for better ways to blaspheme. They ended up becoming believers.
Anyone can make it to heaven. The door opens when Christ gets hold of you and you turn to Him.
If God met people who went looking for ammunition against Him, He’ll meet you when you come asking.
I had trusted Christ, but every time I sinned I’d wonder if I’d lost it. What finally settled it for me was seeing confession as the way a kid who’s already in the family comes home after messing up (1 John 1:9 was written to people who already belong to Him).
Heaven is a gift, and that was settled the moment I believed He died for my sins and rose again.
Jesus says, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” The word ‘daily’ is what’s stuck with me, choosing to trust Him again today, and some days that takes more than others.
I’ve gotten more out of a KJV Bible and some quiet time with passages like this one.
I think about this a lot with sins I can’t seem to quit. If I’m doing it less than I used to and I repent every time I fall, I count that as real, slow movement toward Him.
Has anyone else’s church taught theosis?
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I think a better question to ask yourself is ‘Am I trusting Him with myself?’
Think about how a wife trusts her husband. She leans her whole life on him. That’s a lot closer to what the Bible means by believing in Jesus.
He did die on the cross, and that matters. Saving faith is when you put your weight on Him.
Even demons believe, and they shudder (James 2:19). The real evidence shows up in the fruits of the Spirit, like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and the rest, and that’s what I focus on practicing.
If God ever asks me why He should let me in, my answer is His mercy and the blood of Jesus covering me.
Romans 10:9 says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
I’m trusting in what He already finished on the cross.
My church never used the word, I ran into it reading the Orthodox fathers. 2 Peter 1:4, partakers of the divine nature, union with God by grace and never becoming God in essence.
2 Corinthians 3:18 helped me, changed from glory to glory. Coming back to Him after each fall is part of that change.
In Acts 16, a jailer asks Paul and Silas almost exactly what you’re asking: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Their answer in verse 31 is one sentence: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Last winter I spent weeks on a baby quilt for my niece, ripping out every crooked seam, because I wanted it perfect before I gave it to her. She doesn’t care one bit about the wonky corner and drags that quilt everywhere.
I’d been treating heaven like that quilt, trying to stitch together something good enough to hand over. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says Jesus took our sin so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.
Acts 2:38 connects baptism to forgiveness right alongside repentance. Catholic and Orthodox readers explain that link one way and a lot of Protestants explain it another, so I’d ask your church how they read that verse.