Mark 2:13-17
The Calling of Levi
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
John 14:6-7
Jesus Says No One Gets to God Except Through Him
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Matthew 6:5-15
The LORD'S Prayer
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
John 17:3
Now this is Eternal Life
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Galatians 5:22-23
Fruit of the Holy Spirit
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Love for Enemies
43 "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
John 15:9-17
Jesus Teaches Us to Love Each Other
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
I believe every believer wants to get to heaven...I think that this is one of our purposes in living, and why we should follow God's Word, and that is to get to heaven...We sin, but we have One who came to earth to call on sinners and to save sinners...Salvation is found in no One else...
If man's journey on earth is to live in following God's Word and what Jesus taught, and we believe that this is way to get to heaven, then we must look at how do we get to God and Jesus and Heaven as we live our lives each and everyday...We all should want to get to heaven and to be with God and His Son...To get there, I believe we have to believe that we are sinners and fall short of the Glory of God...Jesus said He came to earth for sinners, so if we want to be with Him in eternity, then we must believe that we are sinners...Jesus saved sinners and offered us a Way to God...And this eternity just mentioned, is an eternal place, and an eternal life with the Father and His Son...And Jesus said this about Eternal Life: Now this is eternal life, that you may know the One True God, and the One He sent...And He adds that we can only we can get to God is through Him, because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life to God and Heaven...He is also our Example of how we should live our lives on earth to get to heaven...
There is another part in getting to heaven and that is the Holy Spirit that God sends us...The Holy Spirit is our Helper, our Advocate as we live on earth, as it is indwelt in us...We need to call on our Helper to help us love God, Jesus, and our neighbors, as we go about doing the right thing each and everyday...Following the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives, which helps us to heaven...
Now, before I read the Bible, I thought that getting to heaven was more of an individual thing...But after reading the Bible, it takes Jesus to get me to God...And He is the One who died for my sins...And Jesus makes an interesting statement about what the Two Greatest Commandments and links them to the Old Testament...Jesus says to love God and to love neighbor...By loving both God and neighbor, Jesus has forever tied God and man together with love...So not only is getting to heaven an individual thing, it is a loving-harmony with all our neighbors as we pull and help and try to get everyone to heaven as Jesus wants...This is because Jesus doesn't say to love just love some of our neighbors, but we are to love all neighbors, even if they are our enemies...And when Jesus gives us His Prayer, the LORD's Prayer He tells us to forgive other people of their sins, when they sin against you, then our heavenly Father will also forgive us...But if you do not forgive others their sins, our Father will not forgive your sins...So, by making these statements He did, and then including in one His last commands, which is to love one another, He is setting our moral compass to love not only ourselves, but to love each other, and to love God and Him...So getting to heaven then seems to become less of an individual thing, and the love of God and Jesus, but also a social thing or at least contains a social piece...We see this better as He teaches us to treat our neighbors as we want to be treated and loving our enemies, and having mercy on them...We are all together in our journey through life...So, Jesus has given us this Great Moral Code of togetherness and community in getting to heaven and being with Jesus and His Father and His Holy Spirit...
So as we look to God and His Son towards heaven, we must love God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and our neighbors, all of them, and this we see the importance of being good morally, while we live on earth and journey though life...So, if we want to live an abundant life and be fulfilled, and be in peace and harmony with our neighbors, we need to love them and forgive them, when necessary...And we should do our best to encourage our fellow neighbors and cultivate the fruits of the Holy Spirit which are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...The Fruits of the Holy Spirit helps us get to heaven with Jesus and His Father...