What Do “I” Need To Do To Get To Heaven?

What do I need to do?

‘What do I need to do to get to Heaven?’

I’ve asked this. You have asked this.

We have this imaginary equation in our minds of what we need to do, be, sell, to qualify to get to Heaven. Everyone’s talked about ‘Heaven’ and we all think this would be a good place to wind up, especially after hearing about fire and brimstone at the other place.

We light candles.

We pray daily and light candles and tithe (part of that math thing). Sometimes, we give money to the poor through organizations, although we always make sure we get a receipt for the donation. We are working so hard at being good, we cringe and then deny that thing we did this morning or last week, well, it really wasn’t that bad.https://www.patheos.com/blogs/insideourgooeyminds/2026/01/abba-where-are-you/

In our life, having lived in this country, we celebrate Jesus’ birthday on December 25th. Not sure anyone knows the real day, but this event has been studied so much, I bet we’re close. We watch movies on TV about it, and they coincide with movies like Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments. That last one is important because that’s when The Law was handed down. God gives us the ‘Big Ten’ I call it. The 10 laws by God. Do these and your good.

Now, there are six hundred and thirteen Mosaic laws. Talk about inflation. For thousands of years, we have been peddling the bike as fast as we can, thinking this is what I need to do to get to Heaven. Matthew 27:32-56 NIV – The Crucifixion of Jesus – As they were – Bible Gateway

This can’t be enough.

I was talking to a friend of mine. We got into the lite topic of God, and he said he prays every day, usually about the issues from the past he no longer does but thinks he needs to keep apologizing for those things again, and again, and again. We find ourselves whipping ourselves and think either the prayer just isn’t enough to cover us or we don’t believe in the prayer we threw up the first time. ‘This can’t be enough. I better say it again.’

We find ourselves working so hard in ‘our faith’ we lose track of the joy and freedom it is actually providing-daily-hourly-minute by minute. We are so convinced we did not ‘earn’ it. We just keep trying to peddle that bike up Mt. Everest. It is exhausting, debilitating, and most importantly not what God wants.

And Satan smiles. He knows we can’t earn it.

He…keeps our joy at bay.

He builds roadblocks to keep our joy at bay. If he can’t have us, then he will make our life will be miserable and frankly, all he has to do is allow us the time to build our own laws in our life, so we feel worthy of the gift. He knows that will work in the opposite and keep us from the love and freedom Jesus bought.

Most of the time, I don’t hear or feel God’s response. He’s quiet. I would think he would be screaming to hush Satan’s attempt at intervention between He and His kids. He’s MY DAD and I want Him to step in and take over! What I forget is-He already has taken over. Now, the gift of Jesus this weekend and to actually celebrate His death AND resurrection sometimes gets lost in the smoke and haze of this life. Here is what I need to remind myself. The metaphoric math equation I mentioned earlier. It’s not real hard. Then again, it is.

There is a God.

He came to earth as a man.

He bought my sins past present and future (that last one is the crazy one) by dying heinously on a cross.

Then, proved it by rising from the dead.

To have a little bit of faith

That’s it. To have a little bit of faith, like a whisper of wind amount of faith in that sequence, will bring me home. Faith is infectious. It is all we need. We no longer live under the law. They didn’t work anyway. Those six-hundred and thirteen laws, done. The Messiah has come to earth. Lived among us. laughed with us, made wine, cried with us, and then He told Dad-‘I got these.’

So, this weekend, dare to believe you are enough. It isn’t and never was about you-me. It’s not about us. It’s about what He did for us. That bought us Heaven. Will I sin again? What time is it? Heck yes, I will! But those have been scrubbed clean as well. When we doubt it, we are actually saying this sin I carry is too much for you (Jesus) to clean. Really? We are saying that to God? In our arrogance, that is what we say.