Imagine booking a flight for a long-awaited vacation. You enter your information, purchase your ticket, and then get this message from the airline: We’re not sending you a boarding pass or receipt. Just show up on the day of your flight; you’ll be fine. Trust us.
Now you have to plan, pack, and head to the airport, simply hoping they let you on.
For many Christians, assurance about salvation and our future in heaven can feel a little like that. We hear the gospel, we pray, and we’re told that we get to spend eternity with God … but it’s not like we get a confirmation email.
So how can we know for sure that we’re truly saved? It’s a tension that a lot of people have felt, and honestly, I’ve wrestled with it myself.
But here’s what I’ve found in God’s Word that gives me confidence, and I believe it can do the same for you.
Big Ideas:
- We can be confident of going to heaven by trusting God’s offer of salvation through Jesus.
- According to Jesus, our actions act as evidence that our salvation is secure.
- Being a Christian isn’t just about going to heaven when we die. It’s about making earth more like heaven today through daily, Christ-centered choices.
How Do You Know if You’re Going to Heaven?
There’s a simple way to find confidence about going to heaven: trusting Jesus’ sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection.
In one of the most well-known statements about His identity, Jesus said:
… “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 NIV
If you want to know if you’ll join God in heaven, ask yourself: Have I trusted Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and begun a new life with Him at the center?
In other words, Jesus is the way to His Father, and God the Father resides in heaven. So, if you want to know if you’ll join God in heaven, ask yourself: Have I trusted Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and started a new life with Him at the center?
Where’s the Receipt?
You might still be wondering about your standing with God because, again, no ticket to heaven has shown up in your digital wallet. So, where is the proof of Jesus’ work in your life? The evidence of our salvation shows up in how we live.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. … Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 NIV
Good works don’t save us, but they do reveal what’s real and growing in us. The Bible calls this “fruit.” When your life is rooted in Jesus, things like love, patience, and generosity start to emerge naturally. Not perfectly—but noticeably.
If you’re feeling anxious about whether or not you’re going to heaven, ask yourself:
- Have I accepted Jesus’ offer of forgiveness? If you’re not sure, check out this example salvation prayer.
- What are the ways I’ve become a little more like Jesus in the past month? Your examples don’t have to be big or dramatic. Just think of small ways you’ve been able to show extra patience, forgiveness, or sacrificial care.
I know that this probably doesn’t fully resolve your questions about going to heaven. We can find some confidence from seeing God’s work in our lives, but that doesn’t give us definitive proof that we’re going to heaven. And that’s not a flaw. It’s God’s way of inviting us to live with trust.
But I don’t want to leave you here. If we’re honest, there’s more beneath this question than just wondering, “How can I know for sure if I’m going to heaven?” I think we can find even more confidence by asking the harder question, “Why am I so anxious about my eternal destiny in the first place?”
Why Do We Feel So Anxious?
I’ve found at least three main reasons why people ask this question:
- Death is a mystery; we want answers.
- Hell is scary; we want to avoid it.
- We miss loved ones; we want to see them again.
At the core, we carry a fear of missing out—missing out on living the best possible future, or of ending up in the worst one. When something feels this big and uncertain, it’s natural to want clarity. We look for something concrete, something we can point to and say, “I know for sure where I’m going after I die.” But we can’t find this kind of proof.
God loves us, and if a guaranteed answer were in our best interest, then He would have given it to us.
Here’s the truth: God loves us, and if a guaranteed answer were in our best interest, then He would have given it to us. But He didn’t. Why not? Why wouldn’t God assure us of our salvation more clearly?
Maybe because a confirmation email or downloadable ticket to heaven would distract us from what it really means to be a Christian.
The Point of Being a Christian Isn’t Going to Heaven
Not long ago, I was leading a group of middle schoolers and asked them, “Why did Jesus die on the cross?” Their first response? “So we can go to heaven.”
So I pushed a little. “If Jesus said that nothing happens after we die, would you still follow Him?” They avoided the question and quickly changed the subject to basketball.
I’m fully confident that faith in Jesus gives us access to heaven for eternity. That’s something Jesus repeats on multiple occasions throughout His ministry. At the same time, Jesus spent most of His time talking about how we are to live our daily lives.
Jesus didn’t say, “The whole point of life is to pray a prayer for salvation and then wait for heaven.” He said, “Love your neighbors, forgive one another, and be generous today.”
Jesus didn’t say, “The whole point of life is to pray a prayer for salvation and then wait for heaven.” He said, “Love your neighbors, forgive one another, and be generous today.” Jesus doesn’t prioritize going to heaven over living well today, because to Jesus, both are deeply connected.
God Is Looking for Partners in His Mission
From the beginning, God, the creator of life, wanted to relate with His creation. That might sound like God just wanted companions, but it’s so much more than that. God made us to be partners in His plan to fill the world with His life and abundance.
But when Adam and Eve turned away from God, they severed that relationship with the Giver of life. While sin messed us up, it didn’t change God’s mission. Throughout the Bible, God keeps inviting people to help make the world more like heaven—a place of freedom, justice, forgiveness, and others-focused love.
But sin keeps getting in the way, and that’s why Jesus came to earth. Jesus showed us what a real relationship with God looks like. It’s a perfect partnership that restores, heals, and helps. The more people joined God’s mission, the more glimpses of heaven began to appear. Then, Jesus died on the cross to help us find freedom from guilt and shame because of our sin.
Eternal Life Starts Now
Everything God did was to enable His mission of uniting heaven and earth, including Jesus’ death on the cross. Yes, Jesus’ death on the cross does give us access to heaven, which is a wonderful gift! But that gift is meant to help us live well today and make us better, healthier partners with God as He makes earth more like heaven.
This is what Jesus means when He talks about eternal life or life to the full. He’s not just describing the afterlife. He’s talking about a quality of life—deep, rooted, abundant—that a relationship with God enables us to have. It doesn’t start with our death. It starts today.
If you want to see what that kind of life looks like in practice, look to Jesus. The way He loved, served, and forgave isn’t just inspiration; it gives us a roadmap for living.
Are You Going to Heaven?
If you’re wrestling with that question, you’re not alone, and you don’t have to figure it out by yourself. Reach out to a pastor or a trusted friend. You may not have an official ticket to heaven, but you can find peace, rooted in God’s love for you.
As you consider the question, I hope you also make room for this one:
How am I making earth more like heaven today?
- How am I using my time and resources to help others?
- How am I showing up for people who may feel overlooked or left out?
- How am I sharing Jesus’ good news through my words and actions?
- How am I using my influence to stand up for those experiencing injustice?
Reflect or Discuss
- When you think about going to heaven, what gives you confidence? What still makes you unsure?
- How have you seen “fruit” show up in your life in the past month—small ways you’ve grown in love, patience, or generosity?
- If God’s kingdom has already started, what’s one practical way you can live more like Jesus this week?