GOSPEL GRACE BY LILLIAN CUCUZZA I grew up in a family that attended church regularly. I did the readings during church services when I was fourteen years old. I was raised to believe there was a God and a Heaven, but I did not know God personally. Even though I was involved in a church, I worried about dying because I did not know if I would qualify for Heaven! I felt a heavy weight on my shoulders that all the activities I was doing were never enough. Secretly, my big question was, “How would I know if I had done enough or was good enough to get into Heaven?”
early to get to know them better. He was a Bibleteaching pastor, and I knew I would not be able to avoid that dreaded conversation much longer. However, I knew I could trust and learn from him.
I avoided conversations with others about religion or church. I did not own and had never read the Bible, so I did not have enough information to know whether someone was telling me the truth or just giving me their opinion. I certainly did not want to come across as ignorant, so I just avoided those conversations as much as possible. Does this sound familiar?
His second question was: “If you did die tonight, and you were standing before God at the gates of heaven, and He were to ask you, ‘Why should I let you into my Heaven?’ what would you say?” I answered, “Well, I’ve tried to be a good person, do all the right things, go to church and be active in the church, but I don’t know if that is good enough!”
One day I was sent on a company business trip to Minnesota. Since my new brother-in-law, Tom, and his family lived in Minnesota, I decided to go a few days
Then Tom gave me a little checklist to find out what I thought was necessary to get into Heaven. The list included things like obey God’s laws, try to do your best, give money to the church, do good deeds, and
Tom picked me up at the airport and it was not long before we got into “the conversation.” He asked me two questions: “If you were to die tonight, do you know for certain you are going to heaven?” My immediate response was, “No!”
7
