One of the FAQ’s (frequently asked questions) pastors receive is: How do I get to heaven? I think this question misses several key points. Salvation is not something that we achieve, it is a gift from God. But I suppose that begs the question: How do I receive salvation? The short answer is by faith. But any longer, more detailed answer must also begin to grapple with the issue of what exactly salvation is. I’ve loved this formulation of John Wesley’s from the first time I read it:
“What is salvation? The Salvation which is here spoken of is not what is frequently understood by that word, the going to heaven, eternal happiness. It is not [merely] the soul’s going to paradise …. It is not a blessing which lies on the other side of death or (as we usually speak) in the other world. The very words of the text itself put this beyond question. ‘Ye are saved.’ It is not something at a distance: it is a present thing, a blessing which, through the free mercy of God, ye are now in possession of. Nay, the words may be rendered, and that with equal propriety, ‘Ye have been saved.’ So that the salvation which is here spoken of might be extended to the entire work of God, from the first dawning of grace in the soul till it is consummated in glory.”
— John Wesley, “The Scripture Way of Salvation.”
I think this gets at a key point: salvation is not confined to the life after death. Wesley assumes that “the first dawning of grace in the soul” happens in this life, while the words “till it is consummated in glory” denote the resurrected life to come. Salvation begins in the here and now and then continues in the glorious new creation (the new heaven and the new earth) that are to come (growing and maturing both here and now and then and there).
Even with this improved understanding the question remains: How do we receive God’s salvation in the life to come? The answer: by opening our hearts to begin receiving God’s salvation now. The two are not severable. God’s grace is always reaching out to us, all we need to do open our hearts in response (and at the start, even the most tentative response will suffice). Thus we begin the relationship with God that is salvation and when we are in a growing relationship with God in the here and now, we need not be anxious about our salvation in the life to come.
Note: I realize that this is somewhat awkwardly worded, but I’m more concerned about making all the relevant points clear than polished prose.