What If You Had To Campaign To Get Into Heaven?

A great question just came my way:  "What if we had to campaign to get into heaven?" 

So, what would we have to do in order to win God's "yes" vote that would fling open the doors to the equivalent of God's oval office?

Let's start with a campaign manager. Someone to make us look good while seeing how awful we can make others look. This way by comparison God will have to vote for us, especially sense elected spots are limited.

To keep up the image of electability, we need a personal wardrobe manager, a private hairstylist and make-up artist, a speechwriter, and a photographer skilled at manipulation of digital photos to make sure that we are seen only at our best.  A spin artist to whitewash any possible embarrassments of our past lives would be helpful.  Actually, that last one would be absolutely necessary for just about anyone.  Let's face it, we've all got stuff we'd rather not 'fess up to.  Best to figure out a way to hide it, or make sure the blame lies on someone else and we look utterly innocent--even when we know we are not.  

All interviews with God's representatives need to be carefully staged, with all questions submitted ahead of time.  It is essential that there be no surprises here. A well-rehearsed, controlled and choreographed interview session will help our chances enormously.  

We probably should also hire groomers and keepers for our spouses, siblings, children and other relatives, just in case God sends a delegation to interview them about our private lives and interactions with them. There's no sense in those heavenly investigators knowing that we take out our frustrations on those closest to us.  That's private, after all.  As for those extramarital indiscretions and certain financial irregularities and those tiny little issues with illegal substances, well . . . let's just say we need a well-financed campaign to keep certain mouths forever sealed.  God really doesn't have to know everything! 

Whew--what a lot of work to get in shape for this election!  What have we forgotten?  Oh yes, we're supposed to be feeding the hungry and visiting the prisoner and clothing the naked and tending to the ill.  Well, any campaign manager worth his salt can set up some great photo ops with brief visits to those smelly and untouchable ones.  In fact, some of those photos would look great in that mansion we'll be living in when God votes us in!

OK, we're spiffed up, our portfolio of nicely documented good works in an elegant presentation folder ready to display, the preliminary interviews safely and successfully finished. The time has come to shake God's hand, answer a question or two and win that vote!

Now . . . do you think you could win this election? Are you adequately prepared?  How many good acts, staged or not, will it take to open that door?  What do we need to make sure is well hidden so it won't spoil our chances? 

Some of the most wonderful words in the Bible read this way: " But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us." It's not what we've done, or left undone, or hidden or pretended we never did. It's not our good works or our boasts of good works. It is the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ that starts us on the path in this life to becoming like Jesus and then ends with that final reconciliation, our winning election, with a gracious God casting the only and the deciding vote.  

It's a gift, folks.  A gift.  A gift to be received, not earned.  A gift to open, touched, taken inside, and experienced in life transformation.  A gift.  No campaign managers required.  No whitewashing necessary.  A gift, the most expensive one of all, and free to you and to me.  You win--if you will receive it.