We’ll Be Surprised At Who We’ll See In Heaven

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Have you ever looked at someone and thought, “They’ll never change” or “God can’t/won’t save them”?

I have.

And I have been proven wrong time and time again. I should know better because at one time people said that about me.

Recently I was studying a passage, Matthew 21:28-32, and during the same week, I checked on a person I’d helped in the past. They’d been arrested a year and a half ago. Recently they pled guilty to some disgusting crimes.

I never realized the darkness in his heart. We would think they’re a lost cause.

He’s actually closer to God than we realize.

The Parable of the Two Sons (Matthew 21:28-32)

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.“

First John the Baptist, and then Jesus, told the unrighteous and self-righteous to repent and believe. Repent meaning to turn away from their evil.

We would think the “church people” of that time would listen and obey. But no. They said “yes”; however, their actions said “no.”

The “lost causes” came in droves. They had said “no” with their lives and later had the needed change of heart.

What’s This Mean For Me?

The question we have to ask ourselves is, which son are we from the parable?

The one who paid lip service or the one who followed through.

Another question for us is, who do we see as a lost cause?

Here’s the truth.

The lost cause is in a better place to be saved than the self-righteous. A self-righteous person doesn’t think they need saving. They don’t realize they’re not righteous at all.

Who will be saved? Only the repentant.

A person becomes repentant when they realize they need God.

That happens when you realize you’ve hit bottom. You look up at the top of the hole you’ve dug for yourself. At the top, you see Jesus reaching down to pull you out.

Here are your choices.

1. Stay in the pit.
2. Climb out yourself.
3. Take his hand and let Jesus pull you out.

Truthfully, we were or are all in that pit. If we’ve been pulled out by Jesus, it’s not our job to kick people back into the pit. We’re not to hold them down.

We’re to introduce them to the one who can pull them out of it.