18 Inches to Heaven
BY: TIM PITCHER
If you were asked how far it is to heaven what would you say? When I first heard
the question I thought, “It’s far away, up in the sky somewhere.” But in reality
it is about 18 inches away! How could that be, you ask?
Doctors say that it is about 18 inches from your brain to your heart. So what difference
does that make in getting to heaven? For most people like me we have a concept of
God. You may even know some of the basics about God and how He sent His Son Jesus
to earth as a baby on Christmas, died on the cross as payment for our sins on Good
Friday and rose again on Easter to defeat death. It is through our relationship
with God that we can enter heaven when our time on earth ends. Jesus said, “Not
everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only
he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”1
But that is knowledge all locked up in our head and does not do us much good at
all. Just like we know how to change the oil in the car or a recipe to our favorite
dish, it is just knowledge in our heads until we actually do something with it.
God does not want us to just know about Him, but to know Him and that does not happen
until our knowledge moves the 18 inches from our head down to our heart. As you
take the knowledge about God and move it into your heart it becomes a relationship:
a relationship that changes your life forever because you now become a child of
God and not just His creation. Our lives will be transformed here on earth. But
one day we will enter heaven and God will welcome us home while others will come
but be turned away because He never knew them.
As His child you will now have the rights of being God’s son or daughter. “So you
are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also
an heir.”2 God is never too busy for us. We can come to Him at any time with our
problems, sorrows, and joys, and He will listen to us. We will want to spend time
getting to know Him through reading His love letter (the Bible) to us, talking with
Him (prayer) whenever and wherever we want, spending time with His other children
(church or Bible study) and being transformed from our sorrows and pain to freedom
and joy.
So how do you know if your head-knowledge of heaven has traveled the 18 inches to
your heart? First there must be a time when you realize that God is not part of
your life and you ask Him to come into your life, forgive you for your sins and
transform you into the person He wants you to be. “In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell
you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’”3
And just as you can recognize competitive athletes from recreational athletes because
of their lifestyle and commitments, you can also tell the difference between people
who truly have given their lives to God—and have heaven in their hearts—from those
who only have the head-knowledge.
So how about you? Are you still 18 inches away from heaven? If you want to know
God personally click the link below.
The choice is yours......
I just asked Jesus into my life (some helpful information follows)...
I may want to ask Jesus into my life, please explain this more fully...
I have a question
(1) Matthew 7:21
(2) Galatians 4:7
(3) John 3:3
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