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Naturally those who have no religion apparently do not. Those who are practicing a religion and do not do so for material gains do have this desire. If you have this desire, stop long enough to consider this: Will the religion you practice lead you to this reward promised to the Christian? I am sure you are firmly convinced that it will, however, one would do well to note a word of warning from Romans 10:2–3:
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
How can we be sure we have submitted ourselves to the righteousness of God instead of man’s “righteousness”? How can one be sure that what the Lord said in Mat 15:9, “But in vain they do worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,” does not apply to one’s religion? The only way is to follow the Word of God all the way. We cannot take only a part; we must take it all. By taking only a part of the Lord’s Word we can get on the wrong track. For example, Romans 10:13 says: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” We can see that this alone is not enough to be saved by what the Lord said in Luke 6:46: “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” He continued in verse 49:
But he that heareth and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth against which the streams did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great.
A person who is like this ruined house could hardly be saved.
A sure way to test the religion you follow is to use this hypothetical situation:
If for some reason all religious practices were stopped, and all materials used in those practices were lost and no words or doctrines passed on by word of mouth, after about a generation or two it would be safe to say that the people would know nothing about religion.
At the end of this time if a Bible was found and a group read it and studied it, did exactly what they read in the New Testament and established a religion, would this religion be the same as the one you are following today?
If it would not be the same, then perhaps you are following the doctrines of men. The Lord said that it is vain to follow the doctrines of men. If you are following a vain religion, how can its reward be a home in Heaven?
It is easy to check your religion without this hypothetical situation simply by checking it against the inspired Word of God given to us through his apostles and recorded in the New Testament.
If you truly desire a home in Heaven, why not take the time now to make this comparison while you still have time to do so? The time will come for all of us when we will have all eternity to think about this matter, but will no longer have the opportunity to do anything about it.
[Note: I wrote this article for and it was published in The Encourager, weekly bulletin Church of Christ, Iowa Park, TX, February 4, 1962, of which I was editor.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
