Our Passport to Heaven
by Gemma Gardner
My husband, Dean and I each have a passport. We’ve had them for the last ten years and Dean told me they were about to expire soon so we needed to renew them. So, we made enquiries and found that we could get new passports through our local Post Office. Dean went there first, and then I went the next day.
The process was amazingly straightforward. All we had to do was to bring our existing passport, and they could do the rest. I was amazed how quickly it was all done, and as I came away, I was thinking about another sort of passport which every human being will need to gain eternal life and enter heaven. The above scripture says it all very plainly. There is no other way to God our Father except through Jesus.
My earthly passport only lasts ten years and has to be renewed, and I have to pay for it. Our heavenly passport has been paid for by Jesus through His sacrificial death on the cross, and we receive it through putting our trust in Him alone. It does not have an expiry date and will be available to us when we leave this world.
As our earthly passport is a little booklet, we have to keep it in a safe place. It can get lost or stolen, and we can’t leave the country without it. It has our photograph on it to prove who we are when it is shown to an official. But the Lord knows each of us by name. No-one can steal our identity or fake our heavenly passport. The Lord knows those who are His. Jesus told His disciples to rejoice that their names were written in heaven. So, we have full security.
Finally, in order for our new passports to be issued, we had to surrender our existing passports to the Post Office to be sent away so that we could receive new ones, which will be sent to us in due course. When we gave our lives to Jesus, we surrendered ourselves to Him and asked Him to take control of our lives. It’s an ongoing process of surrendering to Him through the different stages of our lives. Sometimes it can be hard and costly. But then, Jesus gave up everything to save us, and we can never outgive Him.
Gemma Gardner lives in Norfolk with her husband, Dean, who until recently worked at Ellel Grange. They are both part of the Associate Ministry team which Gemma joined after completing the Modular school. Gemma has experienced the Lord`s healing and restoration over many years and longs to see Him healing other broken people. Gemma loves listening to music, cooking, knitting and crochet as well as outdoor exercise. She enjoys playing guitar and singing worship songs.
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