We ask for your forgiveness for having a ‘Golden Ticket’ mentality in which we wrongly assume that if we just say certain magical words or perform unique rituals, God is required to accept us into Heaven. We then can go and continue living our lives filled with disdain toward those who are not like us. This is called hypocrisy and we are ashamed of this behavior.
Oftentimes we make a huge mistake in Christianity. We make our concern getting to heaven and forget the simple calling of Jesus to love God and love our neighbors. Some folks look at Christianity as a golden ticket – that if we pray some hocus-pocus prayer that we then will be assured that no matter how we live from there on out we will get into heaven. It is like getting into an exclusive club, where you just have to say the right words and you are in. That’s all it takes?
This form of Christianity is not biblical – I really have no idea where it comes from. Please know this—there is no golden ticket into heaven. It’s not like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Charlie’s traveling companions think they can just live their same lives of disdain and arrogance. That way of living does not bear the fruit that is worthy of God’s grace. We think that if we pray some prayer we are going to show up in front of God’s heavenly gates and say – well I have this golden ticket – I prayed this prayer – I was baptized – my parents were an active part of the church, and we think if we can just show this golden ticket then God will accept us. And I want to let you know that is a lie. We can’t look at the Christian life as some hocus-pocus prayer. This is called hypocrisy and we are ashamed of this behavior.
Believing has to be so much more than just thinking a certain way. Believing is living the grace-filled life that is found in Jesus Christ.
Therefore, we are to be different from the self-consumed, egotistical way of looking at life. Instead we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We are to live a life that reflects the character of Jesus Christ. We are to live a life that is sacrificial because it is a life that imitates that ways of Jesus.