10/25/15
Else about 45
Will you go to
heaven? In my conversations on the
streets, the vast majority of people – well over 99% in my estimation – believe
that if there is such a place as heaven, then of course they will go
there. If you stop reading at this
point, my guess is you believe so too!
After all, if you believed the opposite – really believed - that you could
spend eternity in torment, then would you not seek to find a way to avoid that
fate? Most people don’t even believe in
the possibility that they would go to hell, even though many believe it is a
possibility for others. Many are turned
off by the very subject – “Life is so much more than worrying about eternity”
they say. “We should be more concerned
about being good people here and now”.
But people who say that this life, short as it is, is more important than
eternity, say that only because they believe eternity in heaven is already
secured for them. Today I was in an
outreach conversation with a woman at the park named Else. She was asking a lot
of good questions, and began to ask about my church and why it is called “New
Life”. I was explaining that we can have
“new life” in Christ and what that can look like. “We go from thinking we have to earn God’s
favor with good works and always wondering if we have done enough, to knowing
that we are already saved because Jesus took our punishment for us on the cross
and truly wanting to do good works to show our gratitude.” “Most people don’t think like that”, Else
replied simply. And as I think about it,
I have to agree. Although most people do
think they must earn God’s favor, I believe they generally don’t feel the
weight of this obligation to do good works either because they feel they have
already proven themselves to be good enough or that God knows they at least
have good intentions of doing so. For
those of us who know Christ as our Savior, let us never forget what we have
been saved from. Will you go to
heaven? It’s a good question, and it
deserves our attention.
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