INTENTIONAL FAITH · THE PROMISE
Listen to what is said at some funerals and you might come away thinking heaven is everyone’s destination. Jesus speaks with a different kind of urgency.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matthew 7:13–14
The problem that would keep any of us out of heaven is universal: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). And God is so holy that he cannot simply wave sin into his presence; the prophet says his eyes are too pure to look on evil (Habakkuk 1:13).
That means heaven isn’t our default destination. Nobody drifts there automatically. If our sin isn’t dealt with, the place we’re naturally headed is the other one. C. S. Lewis warned that the safest road to hell is the gradual one, a gentle slope with no sudden turns and no signposts. We don’t have to do anything dramatic to end up there. We were born with our autopilot set in that direction.
This is why we can’t “wait and see” about what lies beyond death. James reminds us that our life is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14). The voice that whispers “there’s no hurry, think about it later” isn’t God’s voice. God says, “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
For reflection
- Why do you think so many people assume heaven is automatic?
- What does it mean to you that heaven is not our “default destination”?