⁸ For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— (Ephesians 2:8 CSB)

There is no way to earn your way into heaven.

This is a harsh reality to many who believe that their good works and righteous living will get them into heaven. But we are as dirty rags, even the most pious of us.

We, Westerners especially, are big on independence. We want to believe that we can work our way through just about any issue. Thus, we start hanging our hat on the idea that we can be good enough to get into heaven. Sorry, this is just not true. You can’t be that good.

It is also popular today to believe that there are many ways to God. But Christ said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

That is about as clear cut as one can be. Yet our beliefs often begin with our own misconceptions. We get off-track from the onset and the enemy helps to perpetuate that lie.

Then we tend to stack upon this the idea that following Christ is easy. But if it were why would Christ have said, “…you must take up your cross daily, and follow Me.”?

We want to make everything easy in life, but the harsh truth is that it is not.

The comforting part is that Christ will never leave nor forsake us. He is always there in our times of need. Times still might be tough, but He is there no matter what.