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Overheard in Sunday school:
Teacher: “If I sell my house and my car, have a big garage sale, and give all my money to the church, will that get me into heaven?”
Children: “No!”
Teacher: “If I clean the church building every day, mow the yard, and keep everything neat and tidy, will that get me into heaven?”
Children: “No!”
Teacher: “Well, then, if I treat animals kindly, give treats to all the children, and love my wife, will that get me into heaven?”
Children: “No!”
Teacher: “Well, then how can I get into heaven?”
One brave five-year-old boy: “You gotta be dead!”
This little boy gave a theologically profound answer and he didn’t even know it. He spoke the truth, though he didn’t fully understand it. It is true that doing good deeds will not get us into heaven (Eph. 2:8-9). It is also true that if we desire to spend eternity in the presence of God we must be dead–we must die to self so that we might live for Christ!
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
In Mark 8:34-36, Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Commenting on this passage in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.”
The long answer to the teacher’s question: One must die to self in order to live exclusively for Christ. The short answer: You gotta be dead!
Bart Warren
S. Green St. church of Christ
Glasgow, KY