Growing up in a Christian community, the concept of Heaven and hell was introduced to me early. Do good and be good, because if you’re not, you won’t “get into Heaven”. As a matter of fact, my extremely bold personality as a 4-year-old took this quite literally and I would tell kids in my Pre-K class who skipped me in line at recess or people who used 2 paper towels instead of 1 after washing their hands that they were going to Hell because they weren’t being good. This awareness of the what our actions can cause at such an early age motivated me to be kind and to give, but when it came to serving, my parents always taught me to not give to receive, rather give just to simply give. However, after listening to some of the things some people had to say about the Christian life and sharing the Gospel with others, I realized how flawed many of our ideas and actions are, and how Jesus and the Christian life is often seen as a means to an end.
I was talking about the urgency of the Gospel a few months ago with a group of people. I shared how God was teaching me to not take any situation or relationship for granted, but to remember to bring Christ into them because we may be the only exposure to Jesus they had ever or will ever have. Someone agreed and then added that we should be sharing the Gospel with others so that they may get into Heaven too. I remember feeling so uneasy about that statement.
Since that conversation a few months ago, I noticed that idea of giving to receive being talked about more and more. I simply and respectfully just don’t agree. Yes, serving others may get you into Heaven, but while this is a truth, it is vastly incomplete. The gift of eternal life should not be our primary motivation to give, serve and love. Here’s how I see it:
Jesus is the ultimate and most perfect example of how to love, how to obey God, how to serve, how to submit, how to forgive, how to pray, how to live. Jesus did not come to Earth and relentlessly serve and love humanity just to get back to the right hand of the Father. He walked the Earth and healed, loved, gave, served and sacrificed Himself because that is what He was created to do. That is who He is – a servant.
As Christians, that is the life we are called to. Galatians 5:13 commands us to serve one another humbly in love. Humbly. To be humble means to put yourself below others, to put their needs and their importance above your own. Nothing about humbly serving means to be acting out of self-interest and thinking “what can I get out of this?”. And ultimately, being kind and giving during our time here on Earth in hopes that it’ll be enough for God to let you into Heaven is doing exactly that.
On another note, I think that sharing the Gospel just for the sake of getting others into Heaven is also missing the point. Devoutly following Jesus allows for abundant life here on Earth, something God longs for us all to have and that is made clear in John 10:10 – “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”. Deep abiding peace, incomprehensible joy, relentless hope, undeserved grace, spiritual power and authority, life purpose, and true and whole satisfaction that worldly abundance could never give us is the abundant life Jesus can bless us with (keeping in mind that trial will always come). This is what He promises us when we choose to live a life for Him and this is why we should want to share the Gospel to others – so that they may also have these gifts. Eternal life in Heaven where we will get to be face to face with the Father, the creator of the universe, is an unimaginable ending but there is no point system in God’s eyes to get there.
Serve others and walk in grace, mercy, gentleness, and love because that is what we were created to do. It’s that simple.
