Heaven: "Let me in. I can cook."

I had a brief conversation with a friend last night who cooks at the local Denny's. He knows my friend Chris and I meet there once a week to talk about the Bible and the book we're reading together, The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard.

He made a comment about God's anger at evil not happening right now to which I responded "There will come a day when it happens though." I bring this conversation up because of what he said next.

"Yeah, well I'm going to be right next to the pearly gates saying 'Hey, let me in. I can cook," he said. "God will say, 'Yeah, and he's kind of funny. Come on in.'" After saying this he made some further comments about God having a sense of humor and went back to cooking.

Now, I have no problem with God having a sense of humor (cf. Psalm 2:4, 37:13), but I want to focus on his comments. What do they imply? What thought patterns lie behind his words?

At the risk of reading too much into it, it seems to me that his ability to cook and his sense of humor were used as reasons why God will let him into heaven. He has something to offer God. He can cook for heaven. He can make it a happier place. These skills make him valuable, a prime commodity in a heaven that's lacking those things.

That begs another question, namely, what keeps a person out of heaven? Is it a lack of some skill or personality trait that God pours His wrath on? Will heaven need funny people to make it happier? Will cooks be needed there?

Getting into heaven for him is about what he can offer to God (good food and jokes), not about what Jesus offered to God (a perfectly holy, sinless sacrifice in place of our sin).

In the end, he is trusting his own abilities and charisma (and I'd suspect his own goodness) rather than the person and work of Jesus Christ to rescue him from God's wrath.

He walked with us out to our cars and left by saying "Hey, you guys say a prayer for me alright, and I'll say one for you too." Yes Aaron, we'll pray for you, but now we have a clearer picture what to pray for you.