Can you change your everafter by the good things you do now?
Millions all around the world believe it. Tens of billions—dollars, euros, rubles, yuan—are given every year by those who earnestly believe their gifts improve their odds of getting into heaven.
Massive projects are begun; hospitals are long-endowed; homeless veterans at the corner get twenty dollar bills. Others light their hopeful candles, fast twice a week, and even cause their bodies pain in hopes the Father will relent.
Since everything must have a price, where do we buy our everafter tickets?
But heaven never was endowed, nor can we own a single brick on streets bright-paved with gold. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8).
Our only claim on heaven is the Father’s great affection for us. You’ve heard the line so many times: this time hear it clearly. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).
In God’s wise and gracious plan, kindness flows from those who have received His grace, not as a way to earn it. Accept God’s gift before you give your own.
And stay in grace.
—Bill Knott