Most of us baby boomers can remember in elementary school, high school, and even in college when teachers handed out the dreaded paper report cards inside envelopes at regular 6-week intervals during a school term and then at year-end, long before there were personal computers in schools or homes.  Today, school grades are delivered to parents and students primarily in real time, making grades accessible and viewable electronically at any time during a school year.

In the past, different grading systems were used by teachers.  There were primarily the old letter grades of A through F, the 100-point percentage system, or the 4.0 GPA scale.  In grade school, some secondary subjects were scored with an ‘S’ for satisfactory, or ‘U’ for unsatisfactory, or ‘O’ for outstanding.  In college, you might earn an ‘I’ for incomplete in a certain class subject.  Some higher education teachers and professors made tests so hard, they had no choice but to grade on a curve, or else virtually no one in the class would have passed the test.

The valedictorian of our high school class was my high school sweetheart.  The salutatorian of our class was a girl I had known since we were four years old in Sunday School class.  I had two first cousins who went on to earn achievement letters behind their names, like ‘M’ for masters, and ‘PhD’ for doctorates, which then earns you the letters of ‘Dr.’ before your name.  All these people are examples of students who took home very good report cards throughout their years in the educational system.  Earning good grades can be gratifying steppingstones on your way to a potential life of good works.  Students are rewarded for their good work, not their good heart.

Higher education and good report cards can earn a person valuable rewards in this life, in the form of status, great jobs, and monetary security.  In other words, people who are highly educated, with excellent careers, can be considered very successful in the eyes of other people.

But we must consider the way God looks at us and thinks about us.  God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, including the smartest of human beings.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). God grades us by our heart, not by our good works.

When it comes to our ‘final exam’ at the end of our earthly life, God has a very simple grading system known as ‘Pass’ or ‘Fail’ when it comes to allowing us entry into His eternal heaven.

God’s final exam for us is much easier than any earthly academic testing we will ever encounter in this life.  His grading is straightforward, with no gray zone between pass or fail, and which requires a simple one-word answer to His testing of us—yes or no.

We can either ace the test with a ‘yes’ answer or flunk the test with a ‘no’ answer.

What is the only question in God’s final exam as to whether we ‘pass’ to eternal life in heaven?

Do you believe in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, as the one and only way to enter the eternal heaven God has waiting for us?  Your answer of yes or no has eternal ramifications.

The only need to cram for this test is that you must answer ‘yes’ to your belief in Jesus Christ before you physically die, or before the Rapture of all Christians from the earth takes place, whichever comes first.  No late answer to the test question will be accepted by God.

There is no good reason, no good reason at all, to delay your decision to accept Christ as your personal Savior.  Why?  Because the next day, hour, or second of this earthly life is guaranteed to no one.  Seek the Lord today.  As the Bible says, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).

The only ‘yes’ answer exception to God’s test is granted only to those children who have not yet reached the age of accountability (and I believe those adults who are born without the mental capacity to understand the salvation question).  Jesus said, ‘let the children come unto me’ (Matthew 19:14). We all must accept Jesus (with childlike faith) to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). Salvation is a free gift from God via His grace and mercy bestowed on Christians.

Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God’s grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin.  Will you accept God’s free gift of grace at this time?

You do not want to know the eternal consequences of answering ‘no’ to Jesus Christ as your Savior—because it literally leads to eternal hell.  My best advice—is to believe in Jesus Christ!

When I pray, I view Jesus in my mind not only as God the Son and my Savior—but as my friend.

Jesus wants to be your friend as well. The Bible is a big book, the living Word of God, and can be overwhelming to study for our eternal test, but when it comes to salvation, there are only a few Biblical verses you need to zero in on when studying for your eternal exam.  Let’s review them.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave [us] His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

You could die tomorrow in any place, at any time.  We are all God’s children, but each of us must personally choose to accept the free gift of salvation made possible through your belief in Jesus Christ and what He did for you on the crucifixion cross.  Your belief in Jesus’s death (and the shedding of His blood) as the sacrificial Lamb of God is the only way to have your sins redeemed and (you) be made righteous in the sight of God the Father, enabling you to enter eternal life (with Jesus) in heaven (Hebrews 9:28).

Entering heaven can only happen by your belief in the shedding of Christ’s blood for you, His death upon the cross for you, and then His victory over death by His Resurrection.  Jesus is the ONLY way to eternal life.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).

To be a Christian means you chose to enter the narrow gate that leads to heaven, through your faith in Jesus, rather than choose to enter the wide gate of unbelief that leads to damnation (Matthew 7:13).

“And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

“But God proves His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

“If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart, you believe and are justified [in the sight of God], and with your mouth you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).

Jesus loves you so much that He allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross with outstretched arms.  Now you just need to ‘nail’ your eternal exam with a ‘yes’ answer, so that Jesus, as our master teacher, can hand out God’s report card to you that will say in big beautiful cursive letters, “well done, good and faithful servant [pupil], enter into the joy of your Master” (Matthew 25:21).