You Bet Your Eternal Life

First Day in Heaven print

Over the summer my family and I visited a waterpark while on vacation. I am not a strong swimmer, but I am almost always willing to try something daring. I’m not an adrenaline junky per se but I do love that chilling feeling that pulsates through my body when I am conquering yet another fear. Our first stop at the park was this giant waterslide. There were two. One was for the non-swimmers and the especially scary one was for the more skilled swimmers. We climbed those endless stairs to the top and came to an intersection. I was more excited than my boys, practically jumping in my swimsuit ready to take the plunge. The boys turned towards the long line on the left and I pointed to the right.

“Come over here,” I yelled. “There’s no wait.”

“I think we should take this one,” my nephew said.

My oldest son agreed. I was getting frustrated. I didn’t want them to ruin my high. I needed to get down that slide while I still had the nerve.

“Oh, come on,” I urged them. “I know you are not scared.”

My son was unphased. My nephew tried to get me to read the sign next to the slide, but I ignored him.

“Ok, I’ll meet you at the bottom,” I said with a wave and shimmied down the slide. It was a long thrilling ride down that dark tunnel. I was enjoying myself, my screams echoing throughout the tunnel. Then I saw the light and at the end was a huge pool of water. I was thrust into the water and my body sunk all the way to the bottom.

I tried my little dog paddle moves to bring myself back to the top, but it wasn’t working. All I could do was kick against the hard, chilly water.

I thought to myself, “So, this is how I die.”

I wasn’t afraid. I didn’t panic. It was more of an afterthought. I was at peace with drowning in a pool at a waterpark. The second I stopped kicking a lifeguard yanked me out of the water. He made sure I was ok before returning to his post. I sat there for a minute wondering if I should have been more concerned about what just happened. Thankfully, my family saw nothing. They were busy enjoying the slide I should have taken.

When I told my friends this story, some laughed and quoted the old “Look before you leap” saying. Others were surprised that I didn’t panic while I was under water.

“You thought you were dying, and you weren’t scared at all?”

No.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not suicidal. I don’t want to leave my family. But I know that life here is just for a moment. I know that my real home is in Heaven with the Lord. I know that I have placed my faith in Christ alone. I also know that I have taught my children to trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation.

Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

2 Corinthians 5:6-9

I’ve already been given a death sentence to leave this mortal body behind. All of us have. Frankly, this gives me comfort. Those of us who are truly saved from our sins are secure from having to face eternity without God.

One of my friends shared with me that she would have completely freaked out in my situation. She told me about a car accident where her car spun out of control and collided with another. She said she screamed Jesus’ name terrified that she was going to die. I asked her what she believed would have happened had she died. The first thing she said was that her family would have been heart-broken. I asked her if she believed she would have gone to Heaven. Her response was “Well yeah, of course! I believe in Jesus! You know that!” Now, I cannot judge her heart or mind but her hesitation made me uncomfortable. It made me think of the people I know who are still trying to “work” their way into Heaven instead of trusting that Jesus has already done all of the work. All we do, is believe in that and share THAT gospel. But so many do not. They are betting on their church attendance, donations and whatever other religious ritual they perform will get them into the eternal home with the Lord.

Beloved, it is just not true. You cannot roll the dice, cross your fingers and hope you hit the jackpot. You cannot guess when it comes to salvation. Are you sure you are going to Heaven? Are you truly willing to bet your eternal life that YOUR works are greater than the cross?

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Galatians 2: 20-21

I know that it is not easy to believe in something you cannot see or touch. But dear heart, that is the very definition of faith. God loves you, His creation, His most loved creation, so much that He delivered his Son Jesus Christ to take your place in death. All God asks in return is that you believe. If your heart is receptive, believing is easy. And this good news is the best news to share. We work and share the gospel because we are saved. We work because we are excited about what happens after death. We work because we know that when it is all said and done, the Lord will welcome us home to glory to rewards beyond our imagination. And we that believe want as many people as possible to be there also.

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

Revelation 14:13

So, beloved, are you sure that you know where your next stop will be?

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Where is Jesus?

 

 

 

I have tried many flavors of Christianity. Through years of searching for truth, I have witnessed churches in the Western world commit to all sorts of practices. Some churches believed in clapping their hands, screaming the name of Jesus while sitting on an “altar” to “get saved”. (I’ve even tried this one. It left me a sweaty mess, disappointed and with a dry mouth.)

Some churches “spoke in tongues” which was really a group of people babbling gibberish. No one knew what anyone was saying. (I was taught how to speak in tongues once. I was told to say “ba-ba” like a baby. Then, I was told to say it over and over until the Spirit came.) I remember feeling something that night. But it wasn’t because of my baby talk. I remember praying to God and apologizing for not knowing how to speak to Him in tongues. I said, internally, “God I don’t know what I’m doing but I need you now”. (You see, I was in a low place in my life at that time. I was pregnant, jobless and separated from my husband. I was desperate and willing to try anything.) I felt comfort that night. I was comforted many nights afterward, just praying to God in plain old English.

Some churches like to show off miracles by trying dangerous tricks like handling snakes or guilting their congregation into refusing medical care for serious and sometimes terminal illnesses. One preacher gave a woman dying from breast cancer some “blessed oil” (which was really a bottle of pure olive oil he prayed over) to drink and told her that if she had faith, God would heal her body. Needless to say, the woman died a few months later.

So, you get my point. I have tried several, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Non-denominational, even Jehovah’s Witness. I couldn’t try them all if I wanted. A different denomination is created all of the time. With all this variety of Christian, I am still asking…

Where is Jesus?

Christians today, as I have witnessed, are more interested in chasing fortune, fame, prestigious titles and honor and reverence. Who’s interested in serving God?

I have sat in churches that take several minutes to raise an offering. And you are shamed if you don’t give. If you walk into their building with the wrong clothes on, you are lower than the dirt. (Matthew 6:19-24).

Some churches refuse to welcome people who live an alternative lifestyle (which by the way, is not alternative anymore). Gays and transgender people are not welcome. Mixed race families are not welcome.

Who placed you on the Throne of God?

When was the last time your church gave to the poor? Sheltered the homeless? Or opened your building to house the homeless at night? (God forbid you dirty up your clean sanctuary.) Where does the money in your church bank account go? Mansions, fancy cars, private plans and expensive vacations? Meanwhile the people in your own community are on welfare.

Where is Jesus?

If these churches can answer in the affirmative, you better believe that have practically hired a PR Firm to make sure people know that they’ve done a good deed (Matthew 23:1-8).

I’m no Bible scholar. But I know in my heart that this is not what Jesus intended for the church. The church (people) have compassion for others. They are kind. They are nonjudgmental. They only want to serve God through loving and sharing others. Jesus put no disclaimers on any of this. They don’t need fancy buildings and nice cars. They don’t even need a building. Jesus and his disciples had no building, tent, property or horses to get them to place to place. They literally walked by faith.

Jesus’ message was simple: Love.

³⁴ A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

³⁵ By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

John 13:34-35

These days, Christians are nothing like Jesus Christ. They just stole his name. Christians have no love for Jesus (John 13:15). If we did, we would be obedient.

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. John 13: 21

But we are not, and this is why the world is a cruel Godless place. I, for one, am waiting for the day to be rescued from this place and carried home to paradise. Many will not make it. But sadly, have no idea because they are blinded from the truth.

What is truth?

² By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

³ For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

⁴ And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

1 Corinthians 15:2-4

It’s a pity but very true. A lot of people will hear the Lord say to them “…I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).

Friends, don’t let this be you.

Grace and peace,

Blessings and love,