One of the smallest words in our vocabulary is the word “If.” If always carries a condition with it. When you tell your child, “If you will keep your room clean for one week, I will give you a new bike.” For the child to receive the bike, the room would have to be clean each and every day. Should the child miss cleaning the room just one day, they would not receive a bicycle.

There are some things that we cannot have unless we meet the conditions. It would be nice to receive something even though we did not do what we had to. However, it just does not work that way.

While studying through Deuteronomy 28 the other evening, Moses was giving the Israelites instructions. God had made a covenant with them at Horeb, and now he makes another covenant with them. (Deut. 29:1) He tells them Deut. 28:1, “Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.” Did you notice the condition? The Israelites had to “diligently obey the Lord” if they would be set above the nations. In verse nine Moses says, “The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.” Again, they would be His holy people “if they kept His commands and walked in His ways.” This was all conditional.

As we read through the Bible we find the prophets pleading with the people to return to God. They did not do so and God allowed Assyria to carry the nation of Israel away in 722 BC and Babylon to carry Judah to captivity in 586 BC. They did not follow the conditions.

Today we have been told we can have eternal life with our God in Heaven. To do this we must obey His teachings in the New Testament and practice them in our lives. IF we do not we will miss out on the grandest thing we would ever experience—Heaven. Are you remaining faithful to God?