The title of this article should be a question each person asks.
This world is not all there is. There is a life after this one. Some do not believe this, but that is not a surprise as God said some would not believe, in fact they would think that teachings of Christ to be foolish.
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). One day the Lord will return, not to set up an earthly kingdom, but to destroy the world (2 Peter 3:10).
Those who desire to go to heaven must know what God requires of them.
Moses wrote by inspiration, “And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” (Deut. 10:12, 13).
The Jews needed to hear this message. Moses had led these people by God’s guidance from Egypt to the promised land. He knew their faults and their strengths. They needed to fear God, and to love him.
Today man needs to hear the same words as those spoken by Moses. While man lives under the law of Christ today man still needs to fear God, to walk in his ways and to love and serve him.
This fear includes reverence for God and his word. Many seek to only satisfy lusts and desire, failing to pay attention to warnings given in God’s word.
Jesus told his followers, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). The teachings in the New Testament tell how man is to obey the gospel of Christ as those did in the first century.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter and the other apostles used the keys of the kingdom (Matt. 16:19).
They told of Jesus and how the Jews had taken and killed the very Son of God. How God had allowed this to happen so man could be saved.
When the listeners understood what they had done, they stopped the sermon, saying, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).
Peter answered their question by saying, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:38, 39).
Men today must do the same, obeying the commands of God.
After obeying the gospel, men must continue to obey God. Paul told how Christians must live their lives. Again this goes against what some desire, but to do what is required, it is a must.
The following is a lengthy reading, but those who seek to please God will not mind: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: “For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:” (Col. 3:1-10).
“What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes” (Deut. 10:12).
God still loves all men, but man must obey God.