If there was one post of mine that I’d ever want you to
read, it’d be this one. Please read it. I want to share with you an objective
truth (not just “my opinion”) that is one of the major driving forces behind
nearly everything I do, and it is this:
One day you are going to stand before God and face judgment,
either when you die or when Jesus comes back (whichever happens first). After
judgment you will either spend eternity in heaven or in a real place called
hell. There’s no purgatory where you will pay some time for your sins then go
to heaven. There’s also no time to change your mind about what you believe
during your life once you’re standing before him (Hebrews 9:27). You need to
decide during this lifetime what you will believe, and there is only one belief
that leads to heaven, and it is this:
God is holy and perfect and he created us to be in a
relationship with him. We can find happiness in many things in life, but
lasting satisfaction only comes from a relationship with him. But here’s the
thing about man which you surely know – we are messed up. There’s something
wrong with us for we know the good we ought to do yet we frequently don’t do
it. The bible calls this sin. Because we have sinned we are incapable of having
a relationship with God and are deserving of eternal separation from him in
hell. He would be completely just to send us there.
But do you remember what I said earlier? “He created us to
be in a relationship with him”. He desires this. So what did God do? He said,
“I will take the punishment they deserve so that they can experience this
relationship and serve me.” God sent his Son in the flesh to live the perfect
life and die for the sins of the world. John puts it so eloquently when he
writes, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever
believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus lived the life
that you couldn’t, died for you, and then was RESURRECTED FROM THE GRAVE
showing that death had no dominion over him. Belief in this good news is the
only way you can have eternal life.
The only way. You will not get into heaven by going to
church every Sunday or even by being kind to every person that you meet. “But
didn’t Jesus that the most important thing was to love your neighbor as
yourself?” No, he said that was the second most important thing. The most
important thing is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind (see Matthew
22:36-39). If you love God you will love others (see 1 John 4:19). Salvation
comes through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ (see Ephesians 2:8-9).
Please consider this truth. It changes everything.
Scripture referenced:
Hebrews 9:27
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after
that comes judgment.
Matthew 22:36-39
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first
commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.
1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is
not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no
one may boast.
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