Everyone wants to know what heaven will be like. You know, streets of gold and blind people acting like they just got LASIK and no wheelchairs. I saw something at an airport today and now I know what heaven is like. You’ll never guess what it was.

What does that sign have to do with heaven? Well, I Corinthians 6:9-10 and Galatians 5:19-21 are pretty clear that those who live in sin will be stopped short at the “Authorized Personnel Only” sign that’s hanging on the pearly gates. If you don’t think the regulations are all that serious, read Luke 16:19-31, specifically verse 6 - there is a great chasm fixed, so that no one may go back and forth.

Here’s the good news: I’ve got a golden ticket. They’re not hard to come by; it doesn’t require eating a billion chocolate bars or having a rich dad to buy you one or even having the luck of Charlie Bucket or a chimney sweep. I Corinthians 6:11 follows up the doom and gloom message that none of us can get our own authorization with the news that we’ve already got a VIP backstage pass. We’re washed, sanctified, justified, authorized personnel by the blood of Jesus Christ. We just have to receive it, believe it, and confess it (Romans 10:9-10).

Isn’t that something to share, something to pass on to everyone you know, everyone you care about, everyone you love? II Peter 3:9 tells us God wants everyone to make it past that sign that says “Authorized Personnel Only.” Shouldn’t we want the same thing?