It is finished!

An old Nun was once asked ‘are you ready for heaven?’ and she responded ‘I still have a bit to do’. Endless times I have heard the same thing; ‘I am doing my best’, ‘I need to do a bit more’, ‘I am not sure’, ‘All I can do is hope’, ‘I need a bit more time’, etc, etc, etc. All such thinking has one assumption in common- getting to heaven is a long drawn-out process which depends on my best efforts. Many even seem to believe that such uncertainty as to their eternal destiny is a mark of humility. The end result of all of this is that one can never be sure when one has made the grade and passed the finish line.

Is this what God wants- for us to live and die in miserable uncertainty? The answer is no.

In striking contrast to all such thinking our Lord Jesus Christ’s last words were ‘It is finished!’ This cry of victory proclaimed the fact that He HAD DONE everything necessary, in His sin-bearing death, to fully accomplish salvation for all who would come to Him in simple faith. Faith is dependence- solely depending on Jesus for heaven just as you once solely depended upon your own works. As such it would be the height, not of humility but, of arrogance to respond ‘Thanks, but no thanks, Jesus- I will just keep going my own way , doing my own thing, depending upon my own efforts rather than what you have done’.

Is your salvation ‘finished’ or a self-achieved work in progress?