Stealing Heaven

Psalms 50:5,6,16,17  Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.  And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.  …But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?  Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

The baseball player will jeopardize his safety by attempting to steal the next base.  This is, in a way, how the lost perceive Heaven.  Today they will live for themselves and deny Jesus’ saving atonement, hoping, against all odds, to steal Heaven in the end.  The jeopardy in trying to steal Heaven is that it carries the sentence of Hell.  The player stealing a base can only succeed when the opposing team is pressed or distracted by other events.  The bible says that God knows all, sees all, hears all, and can do all.  Who can succeed against such odds?

Heaven and Hell are not the destinations of the good and bad.  Heaven and Hell are not the prizes in a contest of good versus evil.  The universe did not evolve a Heaven and Hell to accommodate an evolving sprit in man.  Ethereal souls of our inevitable death aren’t gathered together to design a new system of existence or construct a world of another dimension.  Heaven and Hell are distinct, separate, and unique.  Heaven is not a reward for good behavior or Hell bought by evil deed.  Heaven is a place where reward is received and Hell where payment is made.  The place of rest or the place of torment is our own choice.  God’s justice demands either mercy or judgment according to the choice we make.      

If it is our intent to steal Heaven aren’t we making the wrong choice?  Stealing Heaven is a choice to avoid a choice, which is not the right choice.  Not making the right choice is, of course, to make the wrong choice.  Jesus paid the price God demands.  If we don’t receive the gift Jesus bought we refuse every opportunity of Heaven and embrace the torment of Hell.  God must be just, His holiness demands it.  We, the people, demand it.  Where is the justice in this world?  Who judges where there is no civil law, no witness, no remorse, and no care?  Who will address our wrongs which can’t be brought into man’s courts?  Is it only wrong if our courts can condemn it?  The law is for the wicked, but the law can’t cover all bases.  Unlike God, we aren’t all knowing, seeing, and hearing.  Our laws are limited by what can be proven, observed, and corroborated.  Only God knows the evil in men‘s hearts.  The best judge is one who can discern the intent of the heart not the deed.  The magnitude of wickedness is not a measure of intent, or the intent measured by wicked deed.  Who is guiltier of killing?  Is it the man who kills by dismemberment, poison, strangulation, overdose, or thought?  Some of these methods may seem more heinous than others, but they all share the same intent, the intent to kill. 

“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions”, is only half true.  The good intent is laid out next to every bad intent to make a patchwork quilt of black and white checkerboard pavement.  There is no good or bad, only to receive or reject.  God’s intent is to save us from the wickedness and wage of Adam’s sin.  Jesus paid the price for our sin.  All we must do is choose to receive by belief through faith in Jesus’ substitutionary atonement and repent.  There is really only one choice.  By default we follow the path of refusal. Only by choice do we follow the pavement of another path; a path paved red with the blood of Jesus.  (Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  John 14:6) 

Can we steal Heaven and avoid God’s wrath for the theft or the thought?       

Look down, search your heart, which path are you on?