Today's Scripture:

Acts 22:27-29 (NIV) 

The commander went to Paul and asked,

"Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?"

"Yes, I am," he answered.

Then the commander said,

"I had to pay a big price for my citizenship."

"But I was born a citizen," Paul replied.

Those who were about to question him withdrew immediately.

The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.

Observation:

We are all aware that there are two kinds of citizenship: By birth and by naturalization.

By birth or De facto means you acquire your citizenship by actual birth.

Naturalization or De jure means you acquire your citizenship by law. In short, it will cost you a lot.

The question is, what is your citizenship in Heaven?

During the time of Paul, having a Roman citizenship is a great privilege. You'll have the chance to choose whether you'll be charged by the Roman law or not.

But I believed that having a heavenly citizenship will give us never ending privileges of eternal gift not only in Earth below but in heavenly above.

So who can acquire heavenly citizenship by birth?

Those who are holy, righteous and just like the Father, His Son and the holy angels.

We all know that if we want to go to Heaven, we must be like God. Holy and good. However, Jesus said that only God is good. The word 'only' means there is no one but only one. (Matthew 19:17)

The truth is we can acquire a heavenly citizenship by birth only if Adam and Eve didn't make the first disobedience.

But here's the good news: We can still acquire heavenly citizenship through naturalization. Don't worry, it will cost you no more. How?

Because of His passionate love for the people, He wants us to be with Him in heaven so He send His sinless Son Jesus Christ unto the Earth.

God paid the penalty of our sins when He send Him on the cross to die for you, for everyone.

What exactly happened on the cross?

Through His death on the cross, Jesus took our place and our punishment. He exchanged His righteousness for our sins. He took our curse and gave us His blessings.

Romans 6:23 (NIV) 

"For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in  Christ Jesus our Lord."

However, just like a gift that it will not be ours if we will not accept it.

The free eternal gift of the Lord will not be ours if we will not accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal Savior.

Are you not confused why today's devotional entitled, "Does dog goes to Heaven?"

Well, I just remembered that I've read that someone is asking if does dog goes to heaven?

Then, I think about aimee. She is the dog in our church owned by our pastor. I remembered that aimee used to sit with us when we are gathering for a morning prayer. Sometimes we are kidding aimee that she will surely goes to Heaven because we see her eagerness to be with us during our corporate worship.

Then, I remembered this verse:

John 1:12 (NIV)

"Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God."

God has given everyone the opportunity to go to heaven by believing and accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour. It means building a personal relationship not a religion.

I don't think dog can do that because they are living through instincts. Dogs can't make bad moral choices as we do. But neither are they capable of making good choices.  Furthermore, we can decide if we wil accept Jesus Christ as our Lord or not. No dog has that capacity.

God created people in His image. That's why we are responsible to worship and serve Him. We can do this by admitting that we are sinners, receiving Jesus Christ as our Savior, and growing in Christlikeness. Then we can truly show the difference between dogs and men.

Application:

Our life is like a solar system. The center, great sun, holds the solar system together. If it were not for the sun, the solar system would fly to pieces. 

Unless the Son of God is put at the center of our lives, we may also fly to pieces.

God gives us the free will to choose between the three options on how to live our life to the fullest:

We can choose to based our life on what we think, on what other people think, or on what God thinks.

Our choice will dictate how we live, how we love, and someday, how we'll die.

But it's our choice.

What will you choose?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus,

Please come into my life and be my Saviour and Lord.

Please forgive my sins, and give me the gift of eternal life. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Declaration:

I declare that as we received Jesus as our Lord we will never be the same again. The old has gone and the new has come indeed. In Jesus Name, we received it! Amen.

Let's talk about it:

Why do you have to make a choice every day to base your life on God's truth?

I am glad to hear your voice in the comment section below. (English and Tagalog are accepted)

God bless us all!

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Some passages are retrieved from Our Daily Bread (1995), One 2 One by Steve Murrel (1996-2013), Rick Warren, and Billy Graham Devotionals.