I doubt this is the kind of question anyone would like to consider at anytime but I believe it is an important question that each person should ask themselves.
If you were to be totally honest with yourself, without sugar-coating anything you have ever said or done, without making sorry excuses or trying to justify your words or actions, could you declare that you’re a good person in every way and will no doubt go to heaven when you die?
I doubt you our anyone else for that matter could day that about themselves.
Just because you don’t want to think about it or consider the answer to this question, doesn’t mean that it becomes irrelevant or worthy of being ignored.
If you were to die today, would you really not care if you were sent to hell?
I’d like to venture a guess and say yes, you would care because we are talking about hell here, eternal separation from God and never-ending agony and despair.
In the past, I used to think that hell is where people would be tortured for all eternity. Since then, I have come to realise that there is nothing more hellish than being forever separated from God, who is the source of love, joy, peace and everything else we long for and expect in heaven!
A lot of people believe that they’re heaven bound because in their mind, they’re convinced that they deserve heaven. Why? They determine this by the good deeds they do and the bad things they do not do. Of course, they’re oblivious (or conveniently ignorant) of the fact that they’ve done a lot of wrong in their life, be it in word, thought or deed), and will continue to do so, for the rest of their lives.
Unfortunately for such individuals, they’re either unaware or explicitly deny the fact that entry to heaven isn’t based on good deeds or bad, but the standards and laws God has established. Why? Because heaven is God’s Kingdom and as King of all creation, it’s His Way or the highway!
Were are fallen creatures. God created Adam and Eve but they disobeyed Him, which is the original sin that is now part of all of us. All of us have this sin nature, this disobedience towards God, in us. On our own, we cannot remove this sin problem nor fix it. As long as this sin problem isn’t dealt with, God will not, He cannot, allow us into heaven! God is perfect in everyway and because sin is what it is, a holy God cannot tolerate or condone it, let alone allow it to be in His presence. In fact, the just punishment for sinning against God, is death (eternal separation from God).
I hope you understand the seriousness of sin and its dire consequences. So, how can this sin be dealt with?
Fortunately for you and me and everyone else on this planet, God Himself has made a Way for all our sin to be atoned for.
That Way is Jesus.
Jesus, the Son of God, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and willingly went to the cross to be crucified, shedding His blood and giving up His life, so that everyone who believes in Him/His sacrifice, will be forgiven of their sin and accepted by God!
Jesus died for all sinners, taking our place, and suffering the punishment that is rightly ours.
Jesus is the only Way to get right with God. This isn’t something I decided. This isn’t about my religion or yours. This isn’t about me being right or you being wrong.
If you don’t accept Jesus and continue to believe in doing good deeds to earn your way into heaven, you’ll be sadly and terribly mistaken, paying for this error with your life, your eternal life that is!
I pray that you will set aside your pride, ego, culture, upbringing and tradition to consider what I’ve written here.
If you don’t, I lose nothing but I’m afraid I can’t say the same for you.
That Jesus existed, is no longer in contention.
The question you have to ask is, if Jesus is real, is there any truth to what He said and did 2000 years ago, as is written in the New Testament Gospels?
Humble yourself and consider Jesus.
Getting to know Jesus isn’t just about avoiding hell and getting a free pass to heaven. No, Jesus is also about restoring and transforming lives here on earth.
While I’m looking forward to heaven, I’m still alive, which means that God has plans for me here, which I want to fulfill and not only that, I know He wants to use me to point others to Jesus, which is why I’ve written this post.
Jesus makes me want to be a better person, to be like Him, here on earth, which no doubt, is preparing me for my eternal stay with God in heaven.
God bless you.
S
Thank Sri 🙂