Have you ever noticed that Jesus never told people “believe in Me that I’m going to die for your sins so that one day you can go to heaven.”

Is that statement wrong? NO! Let me be emphatic and completely obvious – I BELIEVE that statement and am basing my eternal hopes on Jesus and His death and resurrection. Jesus is what allows me to be with God both now and forever in the life to come.

However, I just want to point out that this statement does not show up in the teachings of Jesus, nor in the epistles.

Yet, this statement has become a main issue for christians.
“How do I get saved?” generally means ‘how do I get to heaven when I die?”
What do we focus on when we are giving the salvation message – forgiveness for your sins so that you can go to heaven when you die.

But, what if we’re missing some critical points. Did Jesus focus on “going to heaven” during His life on earth? Do any of the epistles make getting to heaven their main theme?

No.

What do ALL of them focus on – living in covenant with God today.
How do I walk out this relationship with God today?
What does it mean to call Jesus ‘Lord’ today?
How do I show that I’m a christian today?

In Deuteronomy Moses consistently used the phrase (or something similar) ‘I am setting before you the choice today…’. (Deut 30:19)
‘Choose this day (i.e. today) who you will serve’ says Joshua. (Josh 24:15)
Jesus Himself even declared ‘don’t worry about tomorrow…,’ but instead we are to ‘seek first His kingdom (in parenthesis ‘today’)’. (Matthew 6:33-34)

Maybe we’re focusing on the wrong point.

Yes, we all want to know that we are going to spend the life to come with God. But have you ever thought about the way to get to tomorrow is through today. Maybe the focus shouldn’t be ‘how do I get to heaven when I die?’ but instead ‘how am I suppose to live today?’ And then I’ll let let God handle tomorrow.

Believer, may our focus be Biblical. May we be excited about the realities of the life to come with God. There is nothing wrong with that. But may we use that excitement to run the race set before us today. May we choose today to walk in Covenant with God. May we choose this day the Lord who we will serve. May we bring the kingdom of God today in our actions.

And may we rest knowing God has all our tomorrows.