Most people live their life
as if existence on earth is all there is for us. This is not true. We will all
live for eternity. The question is: where will you spend it? There are only two
choices: in God presence or without it. The Bible gives us beautiful mental
images of Heaven and terrifying descriptions of hell (John
14:1-3; Matthew 13: 42, 50; 18:9; 25:41, 46; Mark 9: Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:23). Beer parties and good times do not exist in hell. No
human in their right mind wants to spend eternity in torment. Therefore, many
take it upon themselves to discipline their lifestyle into some semblance of
good behavior. They trust in their works to earn them a place in eternal bliss.
The Lord draws
each one of us individually to answer His call for our life. Before we will
ever cry out to Him to redeem us, we have to humble our self and realize our
depraved state and our need for the Savior. We all initially walk in darkness;
therefore we all need to trust in the name of the Lord and rely on God for our
Salvation (Isaiah 50:10). It is every individual’s responsibility to diligently seek the
Lord for his/her self. We have all planted
seeds of wickedness throughout our lifetime, and we all need the Savior to
redeem us from those consequences (Romans 3:23; Hosea
10:12:13).
Every person deserves spiritual death, but
God freely gives us His gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23). God demonstrated His own love toward us, because
Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). So, if you admit that you are a sinner and you want
Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, and if you believe in your heart that God raised
Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). You can pray something like this right now: "Lord Jesus, I
confess that I am a sinner. I repent of my sins and I turn to You for
salvation. I believe that You are God. I surrender my will to You and trust You
to take control of my life forever. Amen."
Once you believe is Jesus, all He asks of you is that you read your Bible,
pray to Him, fellowship with other Christians at church, tell other people what
Jesus did for you and then love Him first and foremost with all of your heart.
If you sincerely prayed for forgiveness, you are now redeemed. Your spirit is
Born Again, you are saved from hell and are going to heaven. You will now enter
a lifelong process of sanctification – becoming more holy every day.
Sanctification takes a lifetime, but you will see changes in your desires and
actions every day.
Believing is the first step in asking Jesus to
be your Savior. If you believe, but you do not leave your sinful lifestyle and
you continue to practice willful sin, you are not Born Again. An authentic Believer
cannot live in habitual sin (1 John
3:9). There
are many unsaved church members who continue to live in the world and in sin. Only as you submit to and cooperate with God’s Holy
Spirit as He sanctifies your soul and crucifies the evil desires and deeds of
your body, can you look forward to your eternal home in the glories of Heaven (2
Corinthians 5:1).
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I want to
make You the center of my focus as I submit to Your Spirit through the
struggles within me and the trials around me. Thank You for giving us Your Word
so that we know what is ahead of us in the future and how to please You until
You take us home for eternity.
Thought for the Day:
When you begin to see heaven
as your true home, you develop an eternal perspective of life, which allows you
to live victoriously.