I hope you want to go to heaven when you die. I say this not because I actually think there are some people who might not want to go there but because when you look around at the way people live their lives, you can’t help but notice that most people show no sign that they have any real interest in their existence beyond the grave.

One thing is for sure, we are not going to accidentally go to heaven. If we make it there at all, it will be by design along with a lot of reading and studying the Bible combined with careful obedience to the will of God in our lives. No, we are not going to just wake up one fine day and discover ourselves in heaven due to no fault of our own. What I am saying is if you want to go to heaven, take charge of your destiny, pick up the road map which God has given us, the Bible, and allow it to guide you to a heavenly home.

The Bible has many characteristics in common with other maps. If you are not familiar with maps they can be hard to understand at first. You first have to find out where you are on the map and then where you want to end up. There are many new symbols that we must become accustomed to which will guide us on our journey from our present location to our final destination. There are often warnings of hazards we may encounter along our way and even detours may become necessary when we get lost or when corrections must be made in our present path.

When we have fully learned our map and can make use of all its guidance in directing us on our way, our trip to wherever we may want to go becomes a simple matter of following the map.

Reaching heaven is just like this. God’s road map to heaven is just as necessary and every bit as informative as any road atlas and we will not reach heaven without it. It is interesting that the Bible starts out by telling us we are lost, everyone of us, but that God has sent His son Jesus to seek us out and save us from our lost condition. Then, Jesus and the apostles carefully begin to create the guide posts which direct us in our search of heaven. While road maps are images symbolizing roads, the heavenly map is words symbolizing ideas but it is just as effective.

Let me ask you, if you were about to take a long journey to somewhere you had never been before, would you just get in your car and drive or would you first get a reliable map, study it, mark out your route and then plan your trip accordingly. Any reasonable person would do the latter and I think more especially so considering their eternal soul is at stake, because it is.

Send comments or questions to the Clintwood Church of Christ, POB 746, Clintwood, Va. 24228 or E-mail me at bryanwa@ntelos.net Check out our web page at clintwoodchurchofchrist.com