There are people in the world who see God as a looming figure that is just waiting for us to make a mistake so that he can lay the hammer down on us. But those of us who know him, know better. After all, he sent his son to die for us. Sure, he wants us to be holy like Jesus is holy, but his grace prevails in our weakness. And with his son Jesus, he makes it amazingly simple to be saved. Though it financially costs us nothing it ultimately costs us our very selves. But it is a transaction I’m more than willing to pay for the promise of eternal life. After referring to himself as the bread of life, Jesus later makes this statement in John 6:40:
"For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
He continues in verse 44 by saying:
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day."
So you see, God isn’t a hard God looking to punish us at every turn. On the contrary, he draws unbelievers to the son. The bible tells us that all we have to do is believe. By believing, truly believing, we acknowledge what Jesus did for us on the cross and as we do, we give our lives to him. It is inevitable. We can’t truly believe without accepting him. If you haven’t accepted what Jesus did for us by dying for our sins, I pray that you do today.
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To have eternal life in heaven, we must believe in Jesus. That is what the bible says. He later says that we have to take up our cross and follow him, which basically means that we need to deny ourselves or our own desires (be it sinful or selfish), and pattern our life after Christ as best we can. The only way to know what that looks like is to learn more about him through reading his word and talking to him in prayer. Fasting and fellowship with other believers sure helps as well. Bottom line is that we are all sinners bound for hell. Jesus is the only way to heaven, and the only way to get there is to believe in him.