Tis the season for final exams, am I right? When I graduated from college 3 years ago (how has it been that long?!), I was extremely excited that I never had to take final exams again. They were the worst! From the time I started taking them in high school, I knew they were a force to be reckoned with, regardless of how much you’d paid attention throughout the year. Still, they were doable. Especially in certain classes, where the ever-so-generous teacher would give you a study guide.

And when the teacher gave you a study guide for the biggest test of the year (sometimes of your career!), what did you do? Did you skimp on one of the questions? Did you completely dismiss the guide and study what you felt would be on the test? Did you fail to even look at the paper, hoping your relationship with the teacher was enough? No! You took every single one of those questions, and you knew the answers forward, backwards, and every way in between. You knew subcategories, definitions, examples, and anything else associated with the questions. Why? Because the test was a big deal.

When the teacher gave you the study guide, the final was much easier than when the teacher just told you to “study”, because let’s face it, we all had those tests where we studied hard but studied the wrong thing. In the same way, though, ask yourself this question: how hard is Christianity?

I don’t think it’s that difficult, seeing as the Teacher gave us a full, meaty study guide.

Now, when we say it’s not that difficult, does that mean that the Christian life will be a breeze?  Does it mean that you won’t run into trials? No (James 1:3). Does it mean you will never face persecution? No (2 Tim. 3:12). Does it mean that you won’t have to do anything? No (John 14:15); but it does mean that you have been given all that you need (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

So if it’s that easy, what will be on this great Final? I think Mark 8:34 gives us a pretty good indication. Jesus said, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” 

1. Deny self – Did you rid your life of the things that would separate you from God? Did you keep yourself pure and unspotted from the world (James 1:27)? Did you put God first, and still others before yourself? Did you abstain from even the appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:22)? Did you make your entire life about Jesus, emptying yourself for Him (Gal. 2:20)?   When the time of the Final comes, will you have lived a life dedicated to yourself or to God?
2. Take up your cross – Crosses are for one thing: death. Not for wearing around your neck, or on a bracelet, or printing on a card. Crosses mean death. And so, did you die? Did you put your past, sinful self away in the watery grave of baptism (Rom. 6:1-4)? Did you crucify yourself so that Jesus could live in you (Gal. 2:20)? Did you repent when you sinned and separated yourself from God, letting Jesus’ precious blood cleanse you and make you alive again (1 John 1:7-9)? When the time of the final comes, will God Almighty find you dead in your sins or alive in Christ?
3. Follow Jesus – The hardest part of the final comes in the form of this question: did you follow Jesus faithfully? What big shoes to fill! And yet, we don’t simply have to follow Jesus; instead, He leads us (Ps. 23). He helps us (Heb. 4:14-16). He gives us strength (Phil. 4:13). While Jesus does all of these things (and more!) for us, we still have a part to play. We still have to “study”. We still have to obey. We still have to do all of the things that He wants us to do, otherwise we aren’t following after Him. And so, when Jesus says to repent and be baptized, we do it–otherwise we won’t pass the test. When Jesus says to love our enemies as well as our neighbors, we do it–otherwise we won’t pass the test. When Jesus tells us to flee sexual immorality, homosexuality, adultery, witchcraft, stealing, drunkenness, wickedness, and anything abominable, we do it–otherwise we won’t pass the test. When the Final comes, will the Father find you in the footsteps of His Son, or following the broad, worldly path?

John tells us that if we love God, we will keep His commandments—and that His commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).
Sometimes, people like to argue that Christianity is too strict, and that it’s impossible to be faithful to God. Why would heaven exist if that were the case? God, Who is love, wouldn’t create a place for us that we couldn’t attain! And so, heaven must be an attainable prize, because it IS possible to live a faithful Christian life! And how is it possible to live this faithful Christian life? Because we’ve been given the guidebook! The lamp to our feet and the light to our path (Ps. 119:105).

I want to go to heaven! I want to pass the final! That is why I have to remind myself daily to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Jesus. Won’t you join me on this path to heaven?! Ask yourself these questions daily, and if the answers aren’t what they should be, make them right! If you need to know how, or just want to talk about it, feel free to contact me!