Universalism, the idea that God will force everybody to go to Heaven, denies the freedom of choice. My soul, my choice. How could a loving God force people who don’t want to do His will to be forever in a place, Heaven, where His will is always done? Let’s face it. Many people wouldn’t like that.

If you trust in universalism (that everyone will be saved) but don’t get right with God on earth, if you’re wrong it’ll be too late. The belief in universal tends to motivate people to delay seeking God and to assume that everything will be all right for them no matter how they live.

People who don’t want to surrender to God’s will, but say they want to go to Heaven, are confused. God’s will is always done there.

Jesus offers to set us free from self-torment and make us right with God. If we don’t want that now, why would we want it when we’re dead? If someone is determined not to do God’s will on earth, He won’t want to do God’s will when He’s gone. If you don’t want to do God’s will, it seems unfair that God would make you go to Heaven where His will is always done forever.

Surely God wouldn’t make people who want to set their own rules, and follow their desires and human impulses, go to Heaven. It seems cruel that God would give people no option in the afterlife but to be compelled to perfectly do His will forever.

There are forces that oppose God: evil and our human free will, for example. God’s will won’t be fully done as long as those forces oppose it. Jesus defined Heaven as the place where God’s will is done. If opposing forces are allowed into Heaven, God’s will, will no longer be fully done there. That poses a problem. How does God allow humans into Heaven without allowing opposing forces in? God’s answer is to offer people the opportunity to freely surrender their will to the living Jesus. If we choose not to do so, our presence would disrupt Heaven, unless our will was forcible restrained. But Heaven is a place of love, not of force. So that means if we don’t want to go to the place of God’s perfect will being done always and forever, we don’t have to go there.

Repentance is God’s call to turn from our desires and to follow His will instead. Self-denial is the process of becoming free from bondage to our desires, feelings, and thoughts. Biblical Christianity requires a lifestyle of obeying Jesus and not being controlled by our natural impulses and desires. It requires no faith to hear a sermon, but it takes courageous faith to follow and obey the living Jesus. The missing peace of your heart will be restored when you daily surrender your will to the living Jesus.