l
Jeff Gill
Donald Trump can go to heaven
___
President Trump said on his way to Israel he doesn't think he can get into heaven.
To the press section of his plane, high over the Atlantic, he said "I don't think there's anything that's gonna get me in heaven. I really don't. I think I'm not, maybe, heaven-bound."
He did not appear to me to be joking or sarcastic, but rather meditative: "I may be in heaven right now as we fly in Air Force One. I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to make heaven. But I've made life a lot better for a lot of people."
My observations here are meant purely in a pastoral mode. He has a number of clergy among his advisers, and perhaps some have tried to share a better witness to him on this, but since the President of the United States has said it, as a Christian minister I need to clarify: this is not how redemption and blessing and grace work.
With all due respect, I can hear in the portion quoted above, and his statements that follow, that he's focused on fairness and balance; he moves pretty directly to complaints about rigged elections making his work hard, and the usual accusations about his opposition's competence, that the process is crooked. He feels that he's been trying to do the right thing against a tilted playing field, against enemies who don't play fair.
President Trump openly expressed his doubt he could get into heaven because he clearly is skeptical he's been able to do enough to justify himself. Good enough, so far, except none of us is.
I have good news for President Trump, and anyone else wondering about rewards and outcomes, in this life and the next. God understands all of that about what we're up against, and why we often don't overcome our own limitations. The good news is that we don't have to achieve acceptance in God's sight, or earn our reward to be in God's presence. It's called grace, offered freely, and if we accept that freely given gift, the hard work is done. But it was never our work in the first place. Christians point to Jesus, and say "he paid it all." However you understand that, the point is that the ultimate story is not up to us. God has anticipated and provided for our weakness, even our failures, and sent someone to open the door for us that we can't get through on our own.
That's the hard thing about grace. God's grace isn't fair, and is not in any immediate sense, at least, balanced. Grace isn't fair Biblically. Look at Matthew 20, the parable of the workers in the vineyard. People still argue about whether it's "fair" for the workers hired at the end of the day to get the same reward as those who've been up in the trees working all day.
Likewise, we all have the same eternity ahead of us. Those who responded to God's grace eons ago; people who have been faithful all their lives, or who have a deathbed conversion. Fair isn't the point.
Similarly, rich or poor, in elective office or out, we all have the same 24 hours in each day. With wealth, you can make use of it differently, I'll grant you, with charter jets and limousines to save time, be productive during your time, but in essence, you still have the same 60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours in any given day. We are utterly equal in that. The sun moves west, it sets, and nothing you or I can do will haul it backwards in its course.
Likewise, looking on into the fullness of God's divine providence, we have each of us the same eternity. The only way it's open in any way, objectively or subjectively, is at God's gracious initiative: and that opportunity is as available to you as it is to Donald Trump.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he trusts in Jesus to get him through all sorts of doors. Tell him where your hope is found at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack77 on Threads or Bluesky.
Jeff Gill
Donald Trump can go to heaven
___
President Trump said on his way to Israel he doesn't think he can get into heaven.
To the press section of his plane, high over the Atlantic, he said "I don't think there's anything that's gonna get me in heaven. I really don't. I think I'm not, maybe, heaven-bound."
He did not appear to me to be joking or sarcastic, but rather meditative: "I may be in heaven right now as we fly in Air Force One. I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to make heaven. But I've made life a lot better for a lot of people."
My observations here are meant purely in a pastoral mode. He has a number of clergy among his advisers, and perhaps some have tried to share a better witness to him on this, but since the President of the United States has said it, as a Christian minister I need to clarify: this is not how redemption and blessing and grace work.
With all due respect, I can hear in the portion quoted above, and his statements that follow, that he's focused on fairness and balance; he moves pretty directly to complaints about rigged elections making his work hard, and the usual accusations about his opposition's competence, that the process is crooked. He feels that he's been trying to do the right thing against a tilted playing field, against enemies who don't play fair.
President Trump openly expressed his doubt he could get into heaven because he clearly is skeptical he's been able to do enough to justify himself. Good enough, so far, except none of us is.
I have good news for President Trump, and anyone else wondering about rewards and outcomes, in this life and the next. God understands all of that about what we're up against, and why we often don't overcome our own limitations. The good news is that we don't have to achieve acceptance in God's sight, or earn our reward to be in God's presence. It's called grace, offered freely, and if we accept that freely given gift, the hard work is done. But it was never our work in the first place. Christians point to Jesus, and say "he paid it all." However you understand that, the point is that the ultimate story is not up to us. God has anticipated and provided for our weakness, even our failures, and sent someone to open the door for us that we can't get through on our own.
That's the hard thing about grace. God's grace isn't fair, and is not in any immediate sense, at least, balanced. Grace isn't fair Biblically. Look at Matthew 20, the parable of the workers in the vineyard. People still argue about whether it's "fair" for the workers hired at the end of the day to get the same reward as those who've been up in the trees working all day.
Likewise, we all have the same eternity ahead of us. Those who responded to God's grace eons ago; people who have been faithful all their lives, or who have a deathbed conversion. Fair isn't the point.
Similarly, rich or poor, in elective office or out, we all have the same 24 hours in each day. With wealth, you can make use of it differently, I'll grant you, with charter jets and limousines to save time, be productive during your time, but in essence, you still have the same 60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours in any given day. We are utterly equal in that. The sun moves west, it sets, and nothing you or I can do will haul it backwards in its course.
Likewise, looking on into the fullness of God's divine providence, we have each of us the same eternity. The only way it's open in any way, objectively or subjectively, is at God's gracious initiative: and that opportunity is as available to you as it is to Donald Trump.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he trusts in Jesus to get him through all sorts of doors. Tell him where your hope is found at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack77 on Threads or Bluesky.
