Tragedy.
Disease. Killer heat waves. Natural disasters. Terrorist attacks. Horrible circumstances. Chocolate chip cookies without a cold glass
of milk. War. Sitting through the movie “Creature.” What do all of these things have in
common?
People say they are hell.
While unpleasant things make our lives miserable, even
hellish, they themselves are not hell.
We’ve all heard or been taught that when we die we either go to heaven,
or to hell. The difference between
heaven and hell, to break it down to the simplest explanation, is this: heaven is where God is; hell is where God is
not.
To understand the nature of that, let’s take a look at the
nature of God. Yes, God is the Creator
of the universe, knows all, has ultimate control, can do great and marvelous
things. And the purest description of
God is found in the apostle John’s first epistle.
God is love.
Heaven is where God (love) is; hell is where God (love) is
not.
Have you ever imagined your life without love? Any and all contact with family would be cut
off. No one would call you by your given
name. No one would smile at you, wave at
you, hear your cries for help. And you
would treat others the same. Imagine the
loneliness, the emptiness, the anguish you would feel. And not for a few days. This bottomless pit of despair lasts
forever. Eternally. Without the slightest glimmer of hope of
escaping this … hell.
You may be thinking, “Gee, Mary, that’s pretty dismal. But God always shows up in your posts,
right? When’s Jesus going to come in and
save us?”
This is about hell, dear reader. God does not show up. Jesus can’t save you now. Oh, they’re watching you, alright. With broken hearts, because it’s too late for
them to do anything. You had your chances. Jesus told you He is the way, and Him
alone. Others even tried to tell you,
but you would not listen. The street
preacher. The friend who invited you to
church. The “Holy Roller” TV channel you
paused on for a minute while you were channel surfing. The time when you heard a child singing “Jesus
loves me this I know” or “Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me.” Didn’t any of those tug on your heart? Not even a little bit? Yet you chose not to let that tug pull you
into the arms of the One who was executed by having nails driven into his hands
and feet, all to give you a way out. You
could have had love. But you chose hell.
Hell is where love is not.
“But Mary, I’m a ‘good enough’ person. Are you saying that’s not enough for me to
get into heaven?”
Remember what I said about “heaven is where God is”? God is in charge of heaven, wouldn’t you
agree? Then God is the one who decides
who gets in. If it were my house, I’d be
the one to decide who gets into my place.
Even though there are lots of people in the world who are honest,
trustworthy, etc., if I don’t know you, if I don’t have some sort of
relationship with you, whether you’re a friend or someone to do some work on my
house, sorry bub, you are not welcome.
Same with God. If you don’t have a
relationship with God, you are not welcome in heaven. You are shut out. You are left in an existence where God is
not.
“But I thought God loves me.”
He does! He wants to
have that relationship with you, so you don’t get shut out of heaven! But your being “good enough” won’t do
it. No one is “good enough.” Everyone falls short of the perfection that
God requires of us. That “falling short”
is called sin. The only way sin can be
made right with God is by death. Yet God
still loves you and me and wants that relationship. He’d rather have you alive than dead.
What’s a deity to do?
He’ll tell us what to do, that’s what! The Bible, God’s instruction manual and love
letter to us, makes it clear. About ¾ of
the way through the Bible there is this section called Paul’s letter to the
Romans. I’ll pull out the good stuff for
you. Remember – it’s not Mary from the
Prairie saying what needs to be done – it’s in the Bible.
- All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. (Romans 3:23)
- Sin pays off with death. But God’s gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 3:23)
- But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful. (Romans 5:8)
- So you will be saved, if you honestly say, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe with all your heart that God raised him from death. (Romans 10:9)
Do you see it? “For
God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him may not die but have eternal life.” You get to spend eternity in the presence of
love, in heaven, where God is.
It’s like a “get out of hell free” card! The catch?
You have to accept Jesus as Lord before your body dies.
Once you’re in hell, the offer is void.
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