“Christians alone go to heaven. No one else!”

As Christians, we would agree with such a statement. But how do we get away from sounding arrogant? Imagine making such a statement on a national news outlet, such as New York Times, and the comment section was turned on. Can you imagine the type of vitriol responses you would get? And most would call us arrogant.

The reason why it sounds arrogant is because they are assuming that heaven is something earned by us, thereby proving our superiority. They are assuming, “Oh, Christians think that they are the only ones good enough to go to heaven!” If that were so, Christians would indeed be arrogant!

But heaven is not earned by us. Not by our good works. Not by our superior knowledge. Not by anything we’ve done at all! Heaven is GIVEN to us with no merit on our part. It is entirely God’s doing and therefore all credit go to Him!

How is it arrogant on explaining why I’m rich to say, “I inherited all of it from my parents who are rich. I haven’t earned a single dime of it. Everything was done by my parents and they gave it all to me even though I didn’t deserve one penny!”

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor. 5:21

Our righteousness is an alien righteousness. It’s not earned. It’s given!

Do you know what that implies? It implies no matter how you feel about yourself, you are perfectly righteous before God if you are in Christ. You are innocent. You are pure. You are pleasing in His sight!

Let that fill your heart today.

PH