COMMITMENT: For Heaven’s Sake!

"One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, 'What commandment is the foremost of all?'"

Mark 12:28

An exasperated mother challenged her mischievous son, “How can you expect to get into heaven acting like this?”

The boy, not hesitating, said, “Well, I think I’ll just run in and out, and in and out, and in and out, and slamming the door until St. Peter at last says, ‘For heaven's sake, Jimmy, come in or go out, one or the other.’”

[Edited for publication, submitted to Jokes EveryDay by SSchmu2158; 10/28/99; http://www.jokeseveryday.com.]

Sadly, many seem to think getting into glory is that easy; that somehow the choice after death will be theirs. However, if God –

• drowned all but eight of the world’s residents for their carnality
• confused the language of the whole earth for attempting to reach Him
• turned Lot’s wife to salt for looking back
• loved Jacob but hated Esau over a spurned birthright
• prevented Moses from seeing the Promised Land for what appears on the surface to be a minor infraction
• removed the crown from Saul’s brow for a moment of greed and materialism (a.k.a. disobedience)
• caused Nebuchadnezzar to share the field with the beasts for a season of arrogance
• prepared a great fish to prevent Jonah’s flight from evangelism
• required Isaiah to walk naked for three years as a sign to Israel
• asked John the baptizer to play the fool and lose his head as a result
• and sent His only begotten Son to die for the sins of the world ...
  

I doubt seriously entrance into heaven is going to be a matter of individual choice.

Christianity, Commitment,
Illustrations, Religion