Quit Living in Jeopardy: How to Go to Heaven

Jeopardy! is a game show in which the point values of incorrect responses are deducted from a contestant’s score. I am not a trivia whiz. I have tried to play the game at home.

The points I lose on incorrect responses usually cancel out those I gain on correct ones. Responding to each clue as a real contestant would be like betting my life savings on a lame horse in the Kentucky Derby.

Jeopardy! is not my kind of game. I avoid Jeopardyville. I prefer safety over risk-taking.

For example, I minimize the time I am vulnerable to getting a speeding ticket. I report all of my income to the IRS. I do not ignore a summons for jury duty.

I do not drive without auto insurance. I do not smoke cigarettes or buy lottery tickets. Not everyone is wired as I am. Some people are as safety-averse as I am risk-averse. They take chances. They ride motorcycles without helmets. They do not wear seatbelts. They experiment with dangerous drugs.

Without realizing it, most people on Earth are living in jeopardy. As naturally as breathing, they prioritize independence, fleshly pleasures, riches, and personal glory above God, marching to the beat of the world's priorities.

That makes them God’s enemies (1 John 2:16). Perhaps unknowingly, they figuratively spit in God’s face and disregard His priorities. That is one hundred times more foolish than spitting in Vladimir Putin’s face, which will not end well.

God is gracious, compassionate, and rich in love (Psalm 145:8), and Putin is not. But God is also unimaginably holy and set apart from all sin and is not to be trifled with (Isaiah 6:3). It is dreadful to fall into His hands (Hebrews 10:31). No one more powerful than God exists.

Those who persist in self-centered living in a God-centered Universe are in perpetual jeopardy. Their lives are more fragile than they imagine. They hang dangerously over the abyss of eternally suffering God’s wrath (John 3:36) while they pursue their independence, fleshly pleasures, riches, and personal glory.

How does one escape such jeopardy? The preachers of my youth pointed me toward the forgiveness God offers. However, it was not clear what my response should be.

Their central message was my need to receive Jesus as my personal Savior to remove myself from the jeopardy of hell (eternal separation from God). My decision to respond to an altar call at the end of the worship service was how they said I could remove myself from jeopardy.

The decision to kneel at an altar did not make me a Christian. Walking through the White House in grade school did not make me the President of the United States.

These preachers explained little about following Jesus as a way of life. They portrayed salvation as decision-based. A list of things I should not do accompanied it.

Even after I took a trip or two to that altar, I still felt like I was living in jeopardy. My understanding of the gospel was partial and twisted. I thought I had to live up to a certain standard for God to accept me, and I did not know how good I had to be. However low the standard, I was not confident I would be on the gold side of the pearly gates.

I experienced peace and felt no longer in jeopardy only when I trusted alone in what Jesus had done for me on the cross to make me right with God (1 Peter 3:18). Gratitude motivated me to follow and serve Him. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to. That is how to go to heaven. What is your takeaway? See additional free spiritual growth resources for Christians.   #freediscipleshipresources #freeevangelismresources #freechristianleadershipresources

God has empowered me to write His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength. It’s a free, evangelistic, devotional, and discipleship e-book. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead 6,714 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 15,936 people. I invite you to explore and use it in your setting.

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