One night a month during the winter season I am Bingo Caller in our Retirement Park. Each Monday night three hundred to four hundred people gather at tables in the Ball Room with hopes of winning money. Only a few win and I often guarantee people before the game they can double their money by folding it and putting it back in their pockets. It's an old joke but there's truth in it when it comes to games of chance.
Bingo is generally fun, and I have an idea why some folks like to play. It's because even though they lose, they still feel like winners. In every game players hear numbers they can mark off on their cards. Every time they mark a number, they feel like they've done something. They may not have won, but at least they got to mark off those numbers.
We play twelve games each night, so there are twelve to fifteen or more winners because sometimes more than one person wins on the same card. Most of those who come feel satisfied that even if they don't win money, they still "won" their card numbers. Bingo is quite popular at our park.
There's excitement in the air when the jackpots are big and tension when the Caller makes a mistake. The Caller needs to remain calm when people grumble because they're there to have fun and they know only a few will win money. Whatever else happens, the game is over when the winner shouts "BINGO!" The one with a valid Bingo wins and the rest are satisfied they got most of the numbers.
It is tempting to think that getting to heaven is like that. If we get most of our actions right, we win the heavenly prize, right? If we do a majority of Christian deeds during our lives, God will award us the prize, right?
Sorry. Only the winning scorecard gets the prize, and without Jesus there'd be no winners. No matter how good a life we live, or how close we come to winning, it takes Jesus to get us heaven. No "near-perfect" life will win it. Those "I only missed one" cards don't count.
Heaven requires a winning card with a perfect score, and only Jesus can get that for us. On Calvary He won the Big One, and He offers to share His eternal winnings with every man, woman and child who trust Him as Lord and Savior. When Jesus is our Savior by faith, we win the Big One also. One of His disciples, John, said in chapter 6, verse 47, "He who believes HAS eternal life." That's the plain truth.
When Judgement Day comes, all believers can shout, HEAVEN!
No comments:
Post a Comment