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Each of us will either be ushered into
Heaven or spend our afterlife in Hell
Jayce O'Neal,
Ph.D.
“Everyone
must die once, and after that be judged by God.” Hebrews 9:27 Good
News Translation (GNT)
Before
I go any further, I need to stress the point that I was a kid. I was a young kid.
I was spending time in the mall with my grandma and I
asked her one of the big questions kids ask, “Why do people die?”
She simply said, “Because people get old.”
I thought
about this for a while as we walked to a seating area to rest our feet.
We
just so happened to be seated around dozens of elderly people.
My
eyes got big, and I finally understood what my grandma had told me, so I shared
it with everyone else.
I stood up and pointed my finger at an elderly woman and
said, “You’re going to die.”
And I kept going as I pointed in a circle: “You’re
going to die ... and you’re going to die ... and you’re going to die.”
My
grandma nearly died right there of embarrassment.
She
was not happy with me - not because I was wrong - but because it’s apparently
not polite to talk about another’s mortality in public.
Each
of us will either be ushered into Heaven or spend our afterlife in Hell.
It’s
not polite to talk about; so many Christians don’t.
Others
talk about it, but like I did as a child they do it in a way that is more
spectacle than redeeming.
In
our culture, there is a big push to be polite and ignore reality. But the truth
is, many people you and I know will end up in hell.
Even Christians don’t like talking about it. Those who
object, often argue, “But God is love.”
Then they refer to John
3:16, “For God so loved the world…”
God is love,
but they leave out the rest of the passage:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
“18 Whoever believes in him
is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
“19 And this is the
judgment: the light has come into the world, and people
loved the darkness rather than the light because their
works were evil." John
3:16, 18-19 ESV [Emphasis mine]
This verse tells us that God is loving, but those who don’t put their faith in Jesus are already condemned.
This verse tells us that God is loving, but those who don’t put their faith in Jesus are already condemned.
It
also points out that those who reject the light (Jesus), love darkness and
their works, their actions, and intentions are evil.
So
many like their concept of Jesus as a nice teacher, but He is more than just a
teacher.
He
is the son of God and it is from Him we learn the most about hell.
To
do that they had to acknowledge they were in need of a savior and repent.
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 ESV
God
is love, this is why He sent His son to pay the price for our mistakes.
If
you have not made the decision to accept Jesus as your savior, I’d encourage
you to do so now.
God
is love; if you are a follower of Jesus, then we should love like Him. This
means taking the time to invest in people who don’t know him.
Don’t
just point fingers at them and chide them for their pending doom.
That’s
how kids act, instead take the time to get to know them and share the hope,
love, and peace you have found in Jesus.
Can
God change your life?
God
has made it possible for you to know Him and experience an amazing change in your own life. Discover
how you can find peace with God. You can also send us your prayer requests.
Dr. Jayce O’Neal is the pastor of RED Church in Virginia Beach. RED Church is a growing church community focused on Pursuing God, Loving Others, and Impacting the World.
Dr. Jayce is also the author
of One-Minute Devotions for Boys, No
Girls Allowed: Devotions for Boys, Crazy Circus World and 100
Answers to 100 Questions Every Graduate Should Know. He is an Instructor at
Regent University and is an avid sports fan who enjoys cheering for his
favorite sports teams while eating pizza with a fork. Dr. Jayce has a
Doctorate, two Masters Degrees, a Bachelor of Science, and a small trophy for
perfect attendance in Sunday school from when he was nine. He currently resides
with his fantabulous wife and three children in the Virginia Beach area. To
listen to some of Dr. Jayce’s messages free online see here.
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