Question: Since I wasn’t raised in a Christian home, does God have the same expectations of me as those who were?

Answer: No matter how you were raised, God has given each one of us a choice. As Joshua said to the Israelites in the days after God had given them victory over their enemies: “…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” (Joshua 24:15 NKJV). God has given us the free will to choose to follow Him or follow Satan.

We have only two choices. There isn’t a third choice for all who are old enough and mentally able to understand. He tells us in His Holy Word that we are all sinners in need of a Savior. As such, we cannot enter Heaven being unrighteous, to be with our righteous God. But since our God is a loving God, He made the way for us to still be able to go to Heaven. (John 3:16) That one and only way is by accepting God’s Son Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior!

The Scriptures summarize these truths in Romans 6: 23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus Christ was put to death on the cross to take the punishment we deserve for our sins. He rose to life again on the third day afterwards and lives forever with our Father God in Heaven!

Once we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, God wants us to live our lives to please Him. We do this by putting God first in our lives. We put Him first by studying and growing in the knowledge of His Word. We make all of our decisions based on which choices would be pleasing to our Lord. For example, by studying scripture, we know that we do not please God if we support actions and behaviors that He calls sinful. (See Galatians 5:16-26) And all along the way, we are to pray for His Holy Spirit to guide us and keep us from all unrighteousness!

So the bottom line is: God has given each of us free will to choose to serve Him or to serve Satan. We cannot earn our way to Heaven. We can get there only by understanding that we are saved by God’s grace through accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Through Him, we are to ask forgiveness of our sins, turn away from of our sins, and live our lives for the Lord.

We can choose to turn away from God and not be obedient to His teachings. If we make this choice and end up in hell, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We can’t blame our bad parents. We can’t blame evil people in the world. We can’t even blame the hypocrites we might find in church. God expects each of us to take responsibility for our own choices.

So choose wisely — eternal damnation with Satan in hell, or eternal life in Heaven with God. God loves you and wants you to choose Jesus Christ as your Savior so you can go to Heaven. Do this — and you’ll be forever thankful that you did!