by László Balogh
How often do we wonder if this world can ever get worse than it is? Of course life is also full of beauty, love and enjoyment, a lot of people are helpful and well-meaning. It’s not all bad, I know. But somehow there is always some evil, some worry, some insecurity that’s looming over us. We hear of wars, disasters, shootings, poverty, corrupt politicians, etc. and we wonder how this could be fixed. If there is a God, why doesn’t he intervene? The truth is that God has already intervened, when he sent Jesus to earth, as he taught and healed, and finally died for mankind. It may not seem to you that it helped a lot, since we still see all these bad things. Well, we still have to wait some time for Heaven where everything is going to be perfect, but we can start laying down the groundwork for it, here on earth already.
God often works contrary to man’s logic. God at this time isn’t changing the world with some outside force, but he works from the inside out. He is into changing people’s hearts, because that is a lasting result! Forcing somebody into obedience just results in resistance, but a changed heart will stand the tests of times. God doesn’t just want to get you into Heaven, but he wants to get Heaven into you, and he made it very easy on top of it. God doesn’t go by earthly measures and compare people like we do here. We nearly always compare and label people “good” or “bad”. We set our own standards and reason how this person is “good enough” and should go to Heaven and how some others are real “bad sinners” and deserve to go to hell. But God is into something greater here. He is a maximalist. He is the ultimate Good, and he wants to give us his own goodness for free. In the form of Jesus Christ he has already shown his goodness for us. Jesus went about everywhere doing good; just everything perfect.
The good news is that you don’t have to measure up to God’s standard of goodness to get to Heaven – Jesus did it for you already. You don’t have to take punishment for your wrongdoings – Jesus did it for you already. You might be a relatively nice person, but as I said earlier, God is into something greater. He doesn’t just want to gather some nice people around him, but he also wants to make them perfect. All you need to do is admit that you are not perfect, and that you want Jesus’ free gift of perfection in your life. That will automatically give you a free pass into Heaven. That acceptance of this free gift will plant a seed in your life that will grow and grow as you take care of it. As it grows it will show – that part is up to you. But the seed is there, which is your free pass into Heaven when your life here on earth ends. All you need to do really is just ask Jesus to become a part of your life. To ask for his forgiveness and his free gift of eternal life. You can communicate with him just like you do with other people. Talk to him and he will hear. He already did the difficult part – he died for you, you just need to accept the benefits that come with this. You can always tell him whatever is on your heart, but just to give you a little help, you can say something like this:
“Dear Jesus, thank you for dying for me on the cross! Please forgive me for all the wrong I’ve done in my life and give me your free gift of eternal life! In Jesus’ name, amen!”