ROMANS 1:16-17
If you are too proud to bend your spirit before God, you will never get to heaven. You may be a kind, gentle person; you may even be naturally benevolent and charitable. But if your pride keeps you from admitting your need for Christ, then you will not accept His gift of salvation. Many people have missed out on eternal life because their hearts were too hard and they believed they were too smart for the God who created them.
There is only one way to reach heaven. Holy God cannot tolerate sin in His presence, and He decreed that the penalty for it is death (Rom. 6:23). However, all people are sinners (3:23). So, to provide a bridge between mankind and Himself, merciful God sent Jesus to die in man’s place. Christ’s sacrifice is all that is necessary for a person to enter into a relationship with God the Father.
The believer does not work or reason his way into heaven. The bridge spanning the gap between each individual and God is crossed only through an act of faith: acknowledging the need for a Savior and accepting Christ’s death on the cross as payment for one’s sins.
Perhaps you’re thinking, I want only what I deserve. But no one deserves grace (vv. 23-24). Maybe you tell yourself, I want only what I have worked for. But nobody can earn salvation (Eph. 2:8-9). And yet, the heavenly Father wants to give grace and salvation to you and to me, undeserving though we are. The truly wise people of this world are those who have accepted the truth and bent their spirits—and their knees—before the Lord.
