Jeremiah 31:29, “In those days they will not say again, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’ s teeth are set on edge.'”

2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

No Gate-Crashers

Minutes after Debbie Armstrong and Cristin Cooper placed first and second in the women’s giant slalom at Sarajevo in the 1984 Winter Olympics, a tall stranger stood by them in the Mt. Jahorina pressroom, congratulating them. He even got Armstrong’s autograph.

Trouble was, he had no business being there. He wasn’t a press agent, a reporter or an official-or anyone else important. He was simply a gate-crasher who had slipped past security guards to mingle among the famous. Two days later he breached even tighter security to enter the main press center. Later that day he worked his way into the media center at the speed-skating oval.

It’s a hobby with him. He has successfully crashed World Series press conferences and at least seventeen Super Bowls. Once he even sat next to Farrah Fawcett at a heavyweight boxing match. He fakes credentials, outwits rigid security, bluffs his way where he isn’t welcome, and makes himself so comfortable that everyone thinks he belongs.

There is one place he will never enter if he doesn’t belong, however, and that is heaven. No one slips in there unnoticed, unwelcomed, or uncalled. Nor is there any masking one’s self in a clever disguise to outwit security, or flashing a fake ID card to scoot past a harried angel. Only those with their credentials intact will walk into the new Jerusalem.

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley copyright © 1995 by Word, Incorporated. Used by permission.

*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Applicable Quotations

It is not talking but walking that will bring us to heaven. – Henry

Heaven does not open its door to those who hate. – B. W. Maturin

No man can resolve himself into heaven. – Moody

To get to heaven turn right and keep straight. – Wesleyan Methodist