Are You Ready for Heaven?

First let me start with a short story to help you visualize being ready for heaven. It was five or six years ago when a very good friend of mine, Doc Tarter was tragically killed when a horse kicked him in the head. Doc loved God and did everything he could to make sure that other people knew God as well. Knowing that his name was written down in the Lambs book of life and that if anything ever happened to him he would be ushered into heaven, Doc continued on not fearing this world or what it would bring.

On the day Doc was killed, this is what I perceived happened. Doc was riding the horse when it went to bucking and acting up. He tried to control the horse but lost his balance and fell off the back of the horse. As he was falling the horse kicked out not meaning to hurt Doc in anyway and Doc was kicked directly in the head probably killing him instantly. This is what I think happened after that fatal kick. Doc hit the ground and then as he picked himself up and began to dust himself off he realized that he was not where he thought he was. I believe Doc’s words would be how did I get here (speaking of heaven)? Regardless of the fact Doc was immediately taken to heaven and the reason was he loved God and he knew Jesus as his personal savior.

How about you, are you certain that if you died today you would go directly into heaven? Do you know for sure that you are even saved? Doc did and it is Doc’s commitment to Jesus Christ that insured him of that fact. You never know what is going to happen to you or even when it is going to happen, but suddenly you are dusting yourself off and asking yourself a question, how did I get here? You could walk out of your house right now and by some fluke of nature get hit by lightning and killed. You could be getting ready to cross the street and as you walk off in the crosswalk, a car from behind hits and kills you and you never even knew it was coming. It is that uncertainty that you should be thinking about.

You have no idea when you are going to die and now is the time that you need to be reaching out to Jesus and asking Him into your life. It could possibly be that you could be dusting yourself off in a place you do not want to be, but because of you putting it off there was no alternative. You know the bible says that even on your last breath if you cry out to Jesus you will be saved (paraphrase), but how do you know you will even recognize that last breath? The car hit you and killed you instantly and you did not even have time to breath. If you did not have time to breath then you probably did not have time to say Jesus.

Why would anyone want to put off something that could get them into heaven and away from hell is beyond me, but people do it every day. They say, I have plenty of time to accept Jesus and right now I just want to live for myself and when I get the chance it will do that. Hell is full of people who said that and now for them it is too late and there will never be another chance. Are you one of those who just because everything is going good at this moment say I will wait? God has appointed our time to die and unfortunately we are not privy to that time. When it is our time to die we die and it does not make a difference if we know Jesus or not. God knows that there are those who will never accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and He has also given us a free will to either accept Him or not.

For my money, I would rather know that when I die I will be with Jesus in heaven and definitely not in hell with the evil one. I made my choice a number of years ago and it has been a decision that I have never regretted. I have grown in the Lord and God has taken me places that I could never have dreamed of. He did not make me weak or wimpy because I accepted me, He has made me a mighty warrior with all of the resources of heaven on my side. Just because you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior does not mean that you are physically another person. It does mean however that you realized that without God you were nothing and now your life has meaning.

Because of the death of my friend Doc there have been many who have received Jesus and there will be many more. Doc still lives on in our hearts and in our memories, but his story of how that fateful day he went from this earth to glory in heaven will live on forever. How about your, are you ready as Doc was or do you think you have time? Doc had no idea that on that day he would die and the very same thing applies to you. You have no idea and like the old saying goes, it is better to be safe than sorry. Accept Jesus today and you too will have the opportunity to meet my friend Doc in heaven and let him tell you the story. Time I believe is drawing closer to an end and it is my prayer that not a soul misses out though I know they will. You have that opportunity right now because if you are reading this you have heard the Word of God and that Word says repent and ask for forgiveness right now before it is too late. Accept Jesus and come and meet Doc Tarter. Accept Jesus and know that you know that when you die you will be with Him in paradise.

God loves you and so do I and my prayer is that if you don’t know Him you will accept Him. I love my friend Doc and I will see him again one day.