I want to tell you the good news that I have heard and that I believe. But before I get into the good news, I have to tell you the bad news. But to really accept and appreciate the good news, you must first hear the bad news.
Here is the bad news:
Have you ever told a lie? I know I have. That makes us liars.. Have you ever stolen something? Same, and that makes us thieves. Have you ever used God's name as a swear word (like saying Oh my God, or Jesus Christ when something bad happens)? I have too, and that makes us blasphemers. I'm not sure if you know this, but those were just three of the ten commands, and we broke three out of three. The Bible makes it clear that you and I will live only once, and then we will be judged on how we live. If God judges us by the standard of His Ten Commandments, then we would be found guilty, because if we break even one of God's laws, it is the same as breaking all of the them. The Bible makes it clear that there are only two places to go when we die: either heaven or hell. We have to be perfect to go to heaven, and we have messed that one up. That means that there is only one place for us to go when we die: hell. Does that concern you? It concerns me! The Bible says that hell is no party. It says that the worm never dies, and the flame never goes out. We will be in such pain that we will look for death, but won't find it. That does not sound like a party to me.
The good news is that Jesus saw the problem we had. He saw that because we have broken God's laws there is only one place for us to go: hell. The Bible tells us that Jesus loved us so much, He came from His perfect, holy home in Heaven down into our mess of a world. Then He lived a perfect life, and died on the cross not because of anything He had done, but because of all the bad things we have done. He took the death penalty for me and for you, and He made it so that we no longer have to go to Hell, but we can go to Heaven.
But it is not an automatic gift. Imagine that there is a present under the Christmas tree. You acknowledge that its there and even look at it and say, "What a lovely gift!" But what good is that gift to you until you pick it up, unwrap it, and make it your own? Much like this, until we accept what Jesus has done for us, we are leaving what He has done for us and not making it our own. There are two things to do to pick up Jesus and invite Him into our lives. First of all we need to turn away from our sin and walk the opposite way. Then we need to surrender our lives to God, and no longer do things our way.
It is no easy road, let me tell you. But at the end of the day, what would you prefer? Living a short life that is hard and going to heaven for eternity (forever) when you die, or living an alright life and then spending forever in hell when you die? It may be a hard road to walk, but God gives me peace for the journey.
Although it is no easy road, when you have Jesus as your Lord, and you have accepted what He did for you by dying on the cross, then you can have assurance that you are going to Heaven when we die, and that you are now in God's family. You will be forgiven. I have accepted God's gift, and I encourage you to do the same.
If you believe what I have written in this blog is true, do not put off getting right with God. None of us know when we are going to die, so don't put it off thinking you'll do it tomorrow. Tomorrow might not come. So I encourage you to get right with God today. If you want to make the decision to hand your life over to God, go to a quiet place, tell Him you are sorry for what you have done, that you accept what Jesus did so you don't have to go to Hell, and give your life to Him for Him to lead you.
When you make that decision, find a Bible believing church and group of other like-minded Christians so you can encourage one another, and get a Bible to read and find out what God wants you to be doing.
Before I accepted the gift God gave me and handed my life fully over to Him, I was living a mess of a life. But now I can see that no matter what happens, God will work all things for my good.
Thank you for listening,
from Ruby.
