Are You "Fit" for Heaven?

On a warm spring day in 1959, four 10 yr old boys found a lone skunk minding its own business on a bluff in the plains of eastern Colorado, just outside the town of Wray. The boys did not mind their own business, or rather, considered it their business to mind the business of the skunk. They made a decision, of dubious merit, to chase the skunk (from a distance) as though they might not wish to catch it. After a brief chase the skunk was able to elude the boys by taking refuge in what appeared to be a tiny cave that opened beneath a boulder. The boys threw a few rocks at the opening, but most likely the skunk had retreated to the far reaches of the tiny cave and the boys never saw it again.

The boys soon gave up their quest, called it a day, and headed to their separate homes, each one bearing in their clothing and on their bodies the side effects of an unsuccessful skunk chase (which are most likely not as bad as the side effects of a successful skunk chase.) The joy of the day came to an abrupt end upon reaching their homes.

I really can't speak for all of the boys, but I know that about one second after I opened the back door and entered my house, my mother made it clear to me in no uncertain terms that I was not welcome in the house. I was to go back outside, discard some clothing, and bathe using the hose and some soap. I was not "fit" for being in the house.

There were certain characteristics needed by those who would enter, and there were certain characteristics not allowed to enter, the house. I was in violation of part two. Smelling like a skunk was not tolerated in the house. I would have to fix that before I could come in.

In much the same way as my mother felt about me being in the house those many years ago, God wants us in Heaven, but He won't welcome us into Heaven if we are not "fit" for Heaven. We would do well to have a mindset of wanting to be "fit" for Heaven instead of trying to "get into" Heaven. God will see to it that whatever is "fit" for Heaven will be in Heaven. Likewise, we can be certain that God will not allow anything in Heaven that is not "fit" for Heaven.

I have been using quotation marks around "fit" because there actually is nothing we can do to make ourselves fit. God through His grace will make us fit for Heaven. We can try with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength to be "fit" for Heaven and we still won't be. But if we don't try to make ourselves "fit," God's grace won't apply to us. If we try, God will give us the "boost" we need, but if we don't try, He won't force us. In this article, making ourselves "fit" means seriously trying.

Additionally, this article is not concerning itself with God's plan of salvation for redeeming man from his sins. It is not concerning itself with the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross, nor our proper response to it. Acts 2:37-47 explains that our making the proper response to Christ crucifixion is necessary on our part to be added to His church, and become one of His children, but that it not the point of this article. This article addresses the situation of people who have submitted to Peter’s teaching, followed the pattern of Acts 2:37-47, and have been added to God’s church.

Heaven is a place where God is. God is Holy and Righteous. God is Love. God is Just and Merciful, and full of Grace. All of these qualities will be in Heaven because God will be in Heaven. If we want to be in Heaven with God, we will want to incorporate these qualities into our character to the utmost degree possible. We won’t be comfortable in Heaven without them, and God will not have people who are uncomfortable in Heaven. Those things that “fit” in Heaven are those things that will be in Heaven.

God - with the exception of Jesus’ physical, earthly life - cannot, will not, be in the presence of sin. “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you.” Isaiah 59:2. In Isaiah 6:1-8 Isaiah finds himself in the Heavenly throne room of God and he knows he should not be there because he bears the guilt of his sin. It was a real problem. The problem is solved by a seraphim purging his sin by touching his lips with a hot coal. Only then is he accepted in the Heavenly realm.

Sin, in any form whatsoever, will not be in Heaven. See Rev. 21:8, 1 Cor. 6:9-10, Gal. 5:19-21, Eph. 5:5, as examples. A good, brief summary is found in Rev, 21:27, “But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” There are some things that don’t “fit” in Heaven because they are antithetical to God; they are diametrically opposite to everything God is. Some of them are listed in the verses above. Those things, including anyone who has those things as part of their character, is not fit to be in Heaven.

Another way to understand this concept is to say we must strive to be like God is, i.e. godlly. People who are (striving to be) just, merciful, holy, righteous, loving and full of grace will be a perfect fit in heaven. They will know they have been welcomed exactly where they belong.

Think about the list provided in Galatians 5:19-21. Imagine someone who worships an idol and not God, a person who made their living through trickery, a person full of hate, one who causes strife, or is angrily jealous of others, who has outbursts of uncontrolled anger, who always argues and lives a drunken, wild, lifestyle; not a person who used to be like that, but a person whose very persona involves this type of attitude or activity. Not only would they be more uncomfortable than a back-alley brawler pulled out of an orgy and thrust into a worship service, imagine the chaos that would result in heaven from such a thing. In verse 21 Paul assures us this type of individual will not be found in Heaven.

In contrast to the above list of people who absolutely will not be in Heaven, Paul provides the list of those who will be in Heaven in verses 22-23. These are the people that have faith in God, and whose hearts are filled with love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, and who control themselves. By disallowing everything in the first list, and incorporating the items of this list in their lives they have made themselves "fit" for Heaven. God will see to it that they are in Heaven as surely as He will see to it that those who follow after the items in the first list are not.

Once we have submitted to His plan for our lives, and become one of God's children (and sadly, many have not, Matt. 7:13-14) we don't have to worry about getting into Heaven. We just have to try to be like God is, and we'll fit right in.