Articles
Deserving Heaven?
A few weeks ago, a New York Times reporter named Jeremy Peters interviewed the former mayor of New York City, Michael R. Bloomberg. In the closing paragraphs of his corresponding article, Peters reported that, when asked about his extensive work on gun safety, obesity, and smoking cessation, Bloomberg responded with a grin: “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”
If the arrogance of Mr. Bloomberg’s statement did not utterly shock you, read it again.
I know nothing of Mr. Bloomberg’s religious beliefs and political accomplishments, but from his statement above I can deduce several things: First, he is unsure that there is a God at all. Secondly, he assumes that his excellent track record of trying to make New York City a better place is more than sufficient to earn him a place in heaven. Third, he thinks he owes God nothing and God owes him everything—if there is even a God at all. This attitude is blatantly wrong on many levels.
No one will enter heaven saying, “If there is a God…” Hebrews 11:6 asserts that “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (NASB). To go to heaven we must have unwavering confidence that “He is.” Such faith, by definition, is assurance and conviction (Hebrews 11:1), not guesswork or hypothesis. We cannot simply assume the safest course and hope for the best. We must say, “There is a God, He is alive. In Him we live and we survive.” Perhaps we should ask ourselves: do we really believe in God?
No one will enter heaven saying, “I have earned it.” If anyone enters it will be by God’s grace, which means we will have deserved something entirely different. “For the wages of sin is death,” Paul says, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). The only thing we have earned for ourselves is death, and all the good deeds in the world cannot remove that verdict. Boasting of good deeds is ridiculously absurd. Paul again reminds us in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
At the heart of an attitude like Mr. Bloomberg’s is foolish arrogance. It ignores the entire message of the gospel, that the God who owes us nothing sent His precious Son to save us, His enemies. For that we owe Him everything. How can we think we are too good for that? I am reminded of the Pharisee who prayed to himself, “God I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get” (Luke 18:11-12). We are astonished at this man’s self-righteousness (not to mention Mr. Bloomberg’s), yet the same temptation to pride tempts us. When we look down on the non-religious and religious-but-misguided with contempt, or when we nurture that sense of pride that says, “If only more people were more like me,” the same devil works on us.
It is one thing to have confidence of going to heaven, as Paul did in 2 Timothy 4:7-8. It is an entirely different thing to say, “I have earned it. God owes it to me.” The difference is what our confidence is built upon—on God’s grace, or on ourselves? Don’t be deceived: Mayor Bloomberg does not deserve to go to heaven. I don’t either. Neither do you.
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling” (Proverbs 16:18).
