Eternity is now.

There is nothing more important than this

I begin this essay, not by giving it a fancy title or creating an
appealing cover. There is no clever subtitle. There is nothing eyecatching
at all about this. No, I did not waste the time it would take
making this essay attractive to the eyes. You see, there is something
much more pressing on my mind than making this pretty. This may,
in fact, be the most important essay you will ever read.

Do I say this out of arrogance? Do I believe that the words I
have penned of my own knowledge are so wise that I am to be
exalted as a great author? No! In fact, I am no author at all. I have
merely been given a message to deliver. I have much to say and
little time in which to say it.

You may be asking what is so important and why on earth do
I act as if there is simply no time left. You may be questioning my
sanity as I go on like a mad man. In fact, by the end of this first few
paragraphs, you may picture me as a man on the street wearing a
sandwich board proclaiming “The end is near!”

But the reality is; the end is near. The fact is; there is no
time. Now, I am not proclaiming that the world is set to end in the
very next few days. I would be a fool to do so. For the Bible itself
says that no man knows the day or the hour of Christ's return
(Matthew 24:36). No, rather my reference to the end being near
speaks to the fact that each of us is only given a short time on this
earth. We are given just a few precious decades in which to live out
an entire life. What we do with that life is much more important
than many of us realize.

Most of us don't even stop to think about purpose in life.
We've been so driven our whole lives, so trained, so conditioned.
We've been taught what we're supposed to do and we follow the
plan. We live life according to the expectations laid upon us. But
what if there is more?

Indeed, there is more than this life. There is life after this
one ends, here on this earth. And that life, the one lived for the rest
of eternity depends very much on what we do here, with this life.
Where we spend that life, depends as well on this life.

Eternity. Think about that word. How many times have you
ever, in your whole life, thought about forever? I know I've thought
about forever before and to be honest it scared me quite a bit. I
really don't think our finite, human minds are capable of fathoming
what forever really is. We are so temporal, so fragile. Everything
around us breaks, rots, rusts or dies. Nothing lasts forever. It's no
wonder we have a hard time wrapping our brains around the
concept.

But really, think about it. Forever. Eternity. Never-ending.
Think deeply about it. Did it send a chill up your spine like it did
mine? As I said, I've thought about this concept in the past and it
made me uncomfortable. So uncomfortable in fact that I decided
not to even think about it. Whenever the idea would creep into my
mind, I would shudder and I would think of something else.

But make no mistake about it. We will spend eternity in one
of two places. We must decide now where that will be. I honestly
don't want this to be one of those scare tactic calls to salvation.
We've all heard them. “If you were do die tonight; where would you
spend eternity?” I don't mean to take away from the well intentioned
people who are trying to save souls by giving that notion to think
about. It's a very valid subject and one that everyone should spend
some time thinking about seriously.

No, I don't want to sound like that. I strongly believe that
the reason you should choose to follow after God and accept that his
Son, Jesus Christ, died for the sins of the world, is that you truly
believe it and you want to wholeheartedly devote your life to him.
In fact, I believe that's exactly why God wants you to come to Him
too. But there is more. Eternity is real.

This very morning I sat by the pond in prayer, reading from
God's Word and a thought entered my mind. Yes, it was a thought
about eternity. And as I realized what I was about to think about, I
considered doing what I had done in the past and pushing it away,
changing the subject. But I made a different decision. I decided
that I would spend just a few minutes thinking about heaven and
hell and the life spent forever in one place or the other.

As I pondered this, I felt a calm when thinking about heaven.
There is no pain, no suffering. I will see my grandfather, my twin
nieces and my children that didn't make it to birth. There will be no
tears and we will, at all times, be in the presence of God. That
sounds pretty sweet.

Sweet it is, but there is a flip side. While some will spend
eternity, forever, in this wonderful place called heaven, others are
doomed for hell. Hell is a place that is the exact opposite of heaven.
There is never-ending pain, constant suffering, and a total absence
of God. Absence of God may not sound so scary to you, but the
Bible tells us that all good things come from God (James 1:17).
Since hell is cut off from God completely, no good, not one bit of
good, can exist there. There is only misery and pain. And it never
ends.

As I thought about that, it made me very scared. I felt
frightened deep within. Not for myself. I am not perfect, but I am
forgiven and I have accepted the free gift of salvation that God
offers through His Son. No, I was scared for people I know. People
who live this life as if it were the only life lived. They go about
daily life never giving a second thought to our Creator or his
message. They never think about where they will live forever after
this life ends.

I am scared for them. They may never make that most
important decision and therefore it is decided for them, by default.
If you do not choose heaven, you get hell. It's sad, but it's true.
This message is not one of condemnation. No, I want each and
every person to be in heaven at the end of this life. That is why I
write this. I can not make a decision for you, but I can tell you the
truth.

Our Creator, God the Father, loved us so much that he sent
his Son to this earth, in human form, to live, die, and rise again so
that we may spend eternity with Him. If that message confuses
some, let me explain it another way. Only perfection may enter
heaven. But humans sin. Every one of us. That means that none of
us are worthy of heaven. The price that is to be paid for sin is death.
But Jesus is perfect, and as the one perfect being, He came to earth
and died to pay that price. Each of us must die because of sin. But
if we choose to follow after Jesus, HIS death takes the place or ours.
We then no longer die, but after this life spend eternity in heaven.

The catch is, we have to believe that He did that and accept
His death as our own in order for it to pay the price for our sins. As
an example, let's say that we've decided to purchase something in a
particular store and we're about to get in line to pay for it. The man
in front of us in line tells the cashier that he would like to pay for
our item, just because. When we get to the clerk, we are told (given
the message) that we do not have to pay. The man in front of us
paid the price. We can then choose to accept that the man paid, and
accept the gift, or we can refuse and go on to pay for it anyway.

Some would say, “That's crazy. Why would you still pay
when you know that the item was already bought by the man in
front of you in line?” Well, it may sound crazy in that scenario, but
think about the context of Jesus' payment for our sins. Why would
we not accept that He died so that we don't have to die? One answer
may be that we are too proud. Just as we might not accept that the
man in front of us had paid for our item saying, “I don't need him to
pay. I've got plenty of money to cover my bill. I'm not some charity
case”, we may also reject God's gift. We may say, “I don't need
Jesus to die for my sins. I can work my way into heaven. I'm good
enough.”

Just as bad is the attitude that we don't need God's gift
because there simply is no God and therefore no life after this one.
To live life with no direction is a sad waste. To live only for
ourselves is a life not lived to its full potential. And the end result
of that attitude is rejection of entry into heaven.

It's always been a part of each society throughout the ages to
make light of the concept of hell. To make an image of Satan in a
little red suit with a sharp tail and a goatee is common anywhere,
anytime. Maybe that's why we don't take hell very seriously. Hell
is a consequence for sin, but we act as if it's where the party is.
Some laugh and say they'd rather go to hell because it's where all
their friends will be. They joke and say that hell is waiting for them.
I wish it weren't so. Hell is pain and suffering. And it lasts forever.
It never ends.

I have a burden to spread this message because I don't want
to see anyone suffer, and neither does God. His Word says that He
is not willing that any should perish (II Peter 3:9). God wants you
to spend forever with Him. It's His desire for you to know Him and
love Him. He doesn't want anyone to go to hell to spend eternity.
But you must choose Him.

Will you choose Him today? Will you spend eternity,
forever, in heaven with God, who is love? Will you accept that
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to the earth and died, then rose
from the dead as the one perfect sacrifice for our sins? Will you ask
for, and receive, forgiveness for your sins and live life trying not to
repeat them? Will you accept God as your father, Jesus Christ as
your Savior and the Holy Spirit as your guide?

Many people will not like this message. In fact, some will
hate me for writing it and spreading it. I will lose friends for my
beliefs. But this is too important to care about the temporal things
of the flesh. Please, make your choice today. The time is now.
Then end is near.

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