How Can I

Be Certain

I will Be Welcomed

into

Heaven When I Die?

By Reverend Micah Royal,

Open Door Christian Communities

The second most common question I get asked in my ministry (the first being "Does the Bible condemn me for my sexual orientation or gender identity?") is, How can I be sure I will go to heaven when I die?

Sometimes this question is asked because a person is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered and been told that God sends people into a lake of fire forever, for being one of "those" types of people.

Sometimes it is asked because a person has a checkered past and is afraid the skeletons in their closet which are known to God alone will somehow rule them out from life forever with God.

Sometimes it is asked by people really aware of their own imperfections, who worry about "living up" to God's big expectations.

I always answer this question by turning to the place God answers this, the Bible. What does the Bible say about how we can know for sure we can go to heaven?

Well, first its important to get clear what God thinks of us. Many people assume, because of wrong thinking they have been taught in the past, that God is out to get them, interested in making things hard for them, and wanting to send as many people to hell as possible.

But notice what the Bible says. After explaining how God sent Jesus into the world to reveal to us humans what God is like, one Gospel writer tells us how God relates to us: "For God sent God's Son into the world, that whosoever believes in God should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send God's Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through God's Son might be saved" (John 3:16-17). And elsewhere we read that God is, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" ( 2 Peter 3:9). So there you have it: God is not out to get you, God is doing everything in God's power to make sure you will not be in hell forever, God's goal is not to condemn people but to help them be saved from the things that keep them from God's love and plan.

But is this for everyone, or just for a select few? After all, doesn't God exclude certain people who are different, like

people who have the wrong beliefs, people who have the wrong sexuality, people who don't feel they were born in

the right body, people who have a checkered past?

Well, what does the Bible say? 1 Samuel 16:7 suggest no, God does not care about this external matters like gender

or sexuality: "[A human being] looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart". In

Galatians 3: 28, we find out that God doesn't look at these outward things, but at our relationship to God that Jesus

makes possible: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, male nor female; for you are all one

in Jesus Christ".

Notice Romans 10:12-13, and what is says about differences like race, sexuality, and gender -- "For there is

no difference ...—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Jesus, for, 'Everyone who calls on

the name of the Lord will be saved.'" Notice that -- everyone who calls on God, everyone regardless of your

race, gender, gender identity, sexuality, or mental and physical abilities.

Will your sins stand in the way? Well, the funny thing is that what God is saving you from when you call on Jesus

asking God to enter your life is your sins, which is another way of talking about the attitudes and habits in your life

that keep you from letting God into your life, that keep you from truly "finding" your place in God's plan, and keep you

from really being able to give to others with an open heart. The Bible says when God saves you, God separates any

guilt for those sins from you as far as the East is from the West (Psalm 103:12). It is like God goes to the file on

God's computer's hard drive that lists the records of all your sins and presses a big "delete" button. When God

enters your life, God forgives you completely, leaving you a blank slate from God's point of view. That's what

salvation means.

That's all you need to enter heaven -- to welcome God into your life as the one in charge of your life and, by welcoming God into your life, to also accept the forgiveness for all you've done wrong that God offers.

How do you welcome God into your life and experience the forgiveness God offers? Well, St. Paul tells us in Romans 10: 9-10. He writes "Say with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord." Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Then you will be saved. With your heart you believe and are made right with God. With your mouth you say that Jesus is Lord. And so you are saved."

In other words, call out to God through Jesus and admit that God, through Jesus, is the one who ought to run the show and really let Jesus be your boss & guide through life. Then, believe it, believe that the God Jesus revealed is alive and able to show you the right path, because Jesus is alive in your life. Believe it so much you let Jesus' presence begin to guide and change the direction of your life.

What he is saying is that what counts is 1. Are you calling out to God, inviting God to be the master of your life, and 2. Are you trusting that God is really there, really alive, so alive God could raise Jesus from the dead, and thus being open to the living God guiding your life?

What do you need to know for sure you are going to be in heaven? It isn't having a certain sexuality, a certain gender, a certain gender identity or expression, it isn't being a set race or caste, or having all your religious beliefs or practices right. It is being able to agree with what the writer of Hebrews says is God's one requirement: "anyone who comes to God must believe that God exists and that God rewards those who earnestly seek God" (Hebrews 11:6).

If you can say you trust God, that God through Jesus is alive, and you are seeking God with all your heart, being open to how God's direction in your life, you don't need to fear. You've got it. You've figure it out. You will be with God forever, in God's good heaven.

And if you haven't been able to say that before, but want to, it is as simple as a few words. Just silently decide to put your trust in God, to trust God is alive in your life through Jesus, and that through Jesus' Spirit God can show you God's plan for you. Then, in your own words, talk to God and ask God to come into your life, forgive your sins, and be your guide through life. If you do that and truly seek God from this day forward, you have nothing to worry about. God is a good navigator. God will make sure God leads you all the way home, to God's good heaven, no matter what happens from this day forward and no matter what mistakes you make.