Have you ever had a to-do list at school or at home? What is the worst chore you have been asked to do? God’s Word teaches that there is a chore Jesus has taken off our our spiritual to-do list.
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” Luke 10:25-28
An expert in God’s law asked Jesus what we must do to have eternal life. Jesus answered that if a person perfectly loves God and his or her neighbor, the person will go to heaven. What’s the problem? No one, not even an expert of the law, has loved perfectly all of the time. You are going to heaven, not because of the love you have for God and others, but because of the perfect love God has for you! Jesus did accomplish God’s to-do list perfectly by loving his Father with all of his heart and by giving himself on the cross for every sinful neighbor who has ever lived. What must you do to inherit eternal life? It is not about what you can do, but it is what Jesus has done and the forgiveness he has given that gives you eternal life.
No one can save himself. What message can you share with someone who is wondering what he has to do to be saved?
Excerpt from 5-Minute Bible Studies: For Families