For many years, I personally believed that I was guaranteed a spot in Heaven. I believed that God was real, had tucked me under His wing and helped me to clean up my life. There was no other way I could possibly have pulled away from my addictions and the personality type that accompanies that sort of life.
In cleaning up my life, I started to do good things. Initially I started with becoming an EMT in rural Alberta so that I could put my desire to give back to a practical application. After I met my wife and moved to Lethbridge, I got involved with the local Food Bank. I volunteered with the Canadian Red Cross as well as the local MS Society. I participated in many fundraisers for local charities. We went to church, occasionally. I sincerely believed in God! I was doing all that was necessary to make it to heaven .... right?
Wrong !
1 John 2:23 (KJV) Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
My problem was that I hadn't accepted Jesus into my life. Oh, I had read about Him, knew He had existed and believed He had lived, died and was resurrected again for mankind's sins. My problem was, I believed in Him, but more as a two dimensional individual that was spoken of and referred to from a somewhat out of date history book called the Bible.
It wasn't until I decided to be baptized again in the summer of 2010 that something changed. I won't go into details as I tell this story in my testimony but suffice to say, on THAT day I accepted Christ into my heart . On THAT day I found everything that I had been missing. On THAT day I found that there was a void inside me that I hadn't, until that very moment, realized I had and that it could ONLY be filled with Him. AND it was also on THAT day that I realized if I had died before then, that I would NOT have received eternal Salvation in Heaven.
You can't read a lot of books, practice a pious life, or follow a set of rules, regardless how strict and receive Salvation. After all, we are humans and essentially ALL sinners. If you are married, have you ever seen someone that you thought was VERY attractive and considered what they would be like in bed? This is ADULTERY. All you have to do is think about it and you have committed the sin. Matthew 5:28 "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart". The same is true if you happen to be wronged by someone and in the heat of the moment you think, "I'm going to kill that blankety-blank-blank". Guess what? In God's eyes you've just committed murder. So with our wandering human minds, how can we possibly get rid of all of our sin, purify ourselves, and approach God?
After that there are some basic commandments that He asks you to follow: Mark 12:30-31 (KJV) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Easy .... right? So if you haven't yet asked Him into your heart now's the time. As it says in James 4:14 (NLT) How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. You will never know whether you will have time to make the decision - Ask Him in Right Now. (see Salvation Prayer) Then you are assured Salvation