Heaven

Luke 13 says:

18. A bystander said, "Master, will only a few be saved?"
19. "Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life - to God! - is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you'll sit down to God's salvation banquet just because you've been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives.
20. Well, one day you're going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you'll find the door locked and the Master saying, 'Sorry, you're not on my guest list.'
21. "You'll protest, 'But we've known you all our lives!'
22. only to be interrupted with his abrupt, 'Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don't know the first thing about me.'
23. "That's when you'll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace. You'll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets march into God's kingdom.
24. You'll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God's kingdom. And all the time you'll be outside looking in - and wondering what happened.

I have seen this same kind of thing in the churches I've attended over the years - people who believe that their presence in the church building, or their friends from the church, or the things they have done or the money they have given to the church will get them into heaven.

But God thinks about a ticket to heaven in a way that is contrary to our human nature - He says we do not earn it by what we do. God ask us to become His children - that's it! He wants to have a relationship with you. That's what will get you into heaven, not your money or your friends or even your church attendance! Those things are good, but it's like a good paint job on a house - if the foundation isn't in place, the whole things will fall in around you!

How is your relationship with God today? Are you a child of God? Before you answer, think about it for a minute: what is it about children that makes them different in our lives?

• Our children are watching us very closely.

Are you watching God? Are you looking at what He is doing around you, how He his hand is moving? Are you reading the Bible and studying what He has done to bring us to the place we are today?

• Our children are imitating what they see.

Are you imitating God? Are you imitating Jesus? Have you filled yourself with the Holy Spirit and allowed Him to guide you - every part of you? Are you allowing Him to change you even today? Sometimes we allow God in to clean up what we've messed up in the past, but we shut the door and go on without seeing that the changing and cleaning process is a never-ending deal - we need to be continually looking at ourselves through the eyes of God so that we can learn and become more like Him every day.

• Our children work for our attention - sometimes very hard.

When was the last time you sat and waited for God's attention? Many of us sit down to pray, but when was the last time you wait for God's full attention first? Wow. It can sometimes be very hard to feel the presence of God, but if we are persistent, He will show up in powerful ways. Pray and wait for God. If you don't sense Him with you, keep going - keep at it. He says that He will answer. Sometimes we just have to keep knocking incessantly.

• Our children enjoy spending time with us - cuddling and enjoying our closeness.

Do you enjoy your time with God or do you look at it as a chore, or a stop of your list of things to do in a day? Do you rush through your time, always with an eye to the clock, ticking off the 'proper' amount of time to be spent, only to rush off as soon as the time is complete? Try spending more time with Him - just quietly in His presence. Don't 'do' anything but just sit and spend time in His presence. I like to write with Him. These journal entries are written as I feel Him with me. They are the thoughts I have. (And as much as it seems that I am writing to others, I am writing to myself what is being revealed to me) You can spend time with God throughout the day as you quietly go through your everyday existence.

I have a tendency to keep 'noise' on around me all the time, but I have found that as I spend time doing chores in the quiet, God it there with me and we can 'cuddle' quietly. I'm still folding laundry or doing the dishes, but I find these quiet time to just cuddle up and BE in His presence. I don't count this as devotional time or prayer time - just cuddle time. I like cuddle time. Some days I think it keeps me sane.....

• Our children look to us to provide what they need.

When was the last time we asked God for something we needed? It seems kind of petty to ask for new socks and underwear or new jeans or shoes when there are people dying of cancer next door or down the road, doesn't it? But God wants to help us with what we see as small things as well as the large things. It's kind of a reversal of the talents - if we can trust Him with the small things, we will be able to trust Him with the big things as well. Don't be afraid to go to God and ask for what is on your heart - no matter how small it may seem. He already knows, so go ahead and ask. As we learn to continually go to God for these things, when the bigger things come up, heading straight to God will be already ingrained into our hearts and we will approach with much for confidence and assurance that the need will be met. This faith will bring more answered prayers that we could ever imagine.

• Our children grow to become miniature versions of our selves.

How often I look at my children and see my husband and myself! Sometimes I enjoy seeing those wonderful qualities. Sometimes I cringe. Like our own children, the goal is to become like Christ in our lives - to model Him is all we do and say. Look to God, spend time in prayer, and read your Bible to get your model of how to live as Christ. Then set out to make those necessary changes and be Jesus - here, there, and everywhere!