Tickets To No Where

We kept getting tickets to nowhere. We had finished a mission trip to Jamaica and were trying to get home. However, our airline was having problems, and no matter what our tickets said, we couldn’t leave Montego Bay. Over and over we heard, “Your flight has been canceled.” Even though we had purchased our tickets in good faith, the airline could not back up its promise to transport us to the US. We had to stay an extra day before boarding a plane that could take us home.
Imagine thinking that you are headed for heaven, but discovering that your ticket is no good. It can happen. If you trust the wrong plan, you will get to the gate of eternity but be denied entrance into heaven to live with God forever.
The apostle Peter said there is salvation in no one else but Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”. The only ticket to heaven goes to those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross as payment for their sin.
Some offer other ways. But those tickets are worthless. To make sure you’re going to heaven, trust Jesus. He’s the only way.
---Dave Branon, Our Daily Bread, © 2009 by RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Interesting story! If you would ask any number of people around you, “Where would you like to spend eternity?” Almost everyone would tell you that heaven is the place they would want to be, even though they never think about it. If you would ask them how they expect to get there most wouldn’t have a clue. Probably the most frequent answer you would get is that you have to believe in God. Maybe you would hear that it is by being a good person or doing good things. This is what I heard from my daughter in-law’s dad when he was lying in the hospital dying of cancer. He said he wasn’t religious but he had been a good person. He thought that was enough to get him to heaven. The son of a friend of mine passed away and I asked my friend about the young man’s spiritual standing. His very confident answer was, “Oh, he believed in God.” The Bible says that even the demons believe in God, but shudder. You see, it is not enough just to believe in God or to be a good person. It is not even enough to belong to a church or to have been baptized as a baby. No, we must have Jesus as our Savior.
The big question is, “How do we do this?” You just have to be willing, willing to surrender, surrender to a new way of life. Willing to change whatever God wants you to change. You will be living in a new kingdom, the kingdom of God and no longer the kingdom of self. There are some things that God will want to change in your life but He will let you know what they are. One thing for sure, it will be a better life. Jesus promised that He came that we might have life and have it to the fullest. Why would anyone not want that or why would anyone not want to spend eternity in heaven?
But, this is not a decision you make hastily. The Bible says that the builder needs to count the cost of a building before they begin to build it. Make sure you are willing and then when you are, surrender to the new King and His Kingdom. God is not concerned about specific words, just the decision of your will. Say something like, “God, I don’t know a lot about you, but I know I have done things wrong. You call them sins and I confess these things and I repent of them. I am sorry and turn from them. I now receive Jesus as my Savior and the Lord of my life. Jesus, come into my heart and be my Lord and my Master. From now on, I will serve you and live the way you want me to live. AMEN.
That’s a great start. Now you need to find a good Bible believing church. Christian fellowship is necessary. Spend time reading your Bible and do some talking to God, it is called prayer.

God’s blessings on you!