Elaine Baldwin | @elainehbaldwin
A Sunday School teacher was doing her best to explain how someone gets to heaven.
SS Teacher: “If I’m a good person and help a lot of people, will that get me into heaven?”
Class: “No!”
She nodded her head in approval.
SS Teacher: “If I sell everything I have and give all my money away, will that get me into heaven?”
Class: “No!”
She smiled at their understanding.
SS Teacher: “And if I come to church every Sunday and pray every day, will that get me into heaven?”
Class: “No!”
The teacher nodded once more and was sure her class was ready to answer the next all important question.
SS Teacher: “So if none of those things gets me into heaven, then tell me what do I have to do to get to heaven?”
Many hands went up, but she noticed one boy sitting in the back who didn’t normally answer had his hand up.
SS Teacher: “Timmy, do you know the answer?”
Timmy: “Yes Ma’am. That’s easy.”
The teacher gave him an assuring smile. “So, what do I have to do to get to heaven?”
Timmy: “You have to be dead!”
(This statement is more profound than Timmy realizes. The first step to getting into heaven is to realize you are dead. Only then will you understand the new life you can have in Jesus Christ.)
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7 (NASB)
One Another Living 