What will be your destination?

Many of us just live our lives as if they are going to keep going. We don’t think about “end of life” until we have to. Even then, we don’t consider our eternal life. So…what will be your eternal destination? Will you just go puff and that is it after your mortal body dies? Do you believe in an eternal destination? It seems that many people do because most obituaries seem to point to a heavenly destination. But what if your soul doesn’t go to heaven? How do you get to Heaven?

How do you get to Heaven?

According to the Bible and the Christian definition, you can only get there by believing in Jesus as your Savior. There are no work requirements and no other “hoops” you have to jump through. Is this the right way? Again, according to Jesus Christ, belief in Him is the only way to come into the presence of God in heaven. Accepting Jesus as your Savior takes all of the punishment for your sins away and you are wiped clean.

There are other religious ways in the world and I won’t list them here. But, in the past 25+ years that I have been a follower of Jesus, no other religion offers you an eternal relationship except Christianity. God loves all of us, but He knows our weaknesses and our strengths and He knows who will accept Jesus as their Savior and who will not.

Remember the thief on the cross? He asked Jesus to remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus told him, “today you will be with Me in paradise”. He couldn’t even be baptized, but he was saved. Just believe in Jesus and ask Him to forgive you of your sins.

The Earth is the Lord’s

High price conversation

I met a man in 1990 who I have prayed for ever since. Not every day, but I still pray for him. He may be deceased by now, I don’t know. I got into an elevator with him and I tried to strike up a conversation with him, just small talk while we were on the elevator. He interrupted me and said, “I’m going to stop you right there. I charge $800 an hour for my time.” I just said, “Okay”. The trip in the elevator wasn’t going to be very long, but according to his estimate, talking to me wasn’t worth his attention, even if it was just small talk.

I’m glad that God isn’t like that. He listens to every prayer, and every cry for help. Even if it is just one word spoken in anguish and pain. God loves us and cares for each of us more than we will ever know, until we are in Heaven.

I listened to a program a few minutes ago talking about the prayer shawl (Tallit) that every Jewish person knows about. The prayer shawl represents God and all of His attributes. His name YHWH is represented by the knots on the corners (Tzitzit) of the prayer shawl. All of the threads mean something, in particular the commandments of God. I apologize if I have gotten parts of it wrong. My point is this, in reference to the “corner of His garment” mentioned in the New Testament, the woman touched the name of God. She had faith enough to know that if she could only touch that, her medical problem would be cured.

God’s economy doesn’t work by how much money you have or what value you can bring to Him. God is the Creator of everything! You are worth the life of His Son, Jesus, so you are worth far more than any amount of money, including the entire wealth of the whole world! God could create a planet-sized diamond if He wanted to, so there is no amount of gold or silver that you could offer Him to gain His attention.

Your life and your soul are worth Jesus’ dying on the cross and coming out of the tomb on the third day. Jesus is God in human form, with all of our feelings and temptations and it was only because He had the nature of God in Him that He was able to live a sinless life to pay for our sins. If you can place your faith in Him and give your heart to Him, like the thief on the cross, you will be saved. No amount of work required. No giving away your wealth, although that would take a burden from you. Just give Him yourself as a living sacrifice each day and walk with Him until He returns. It is a daily walk, one step at a time.

God doesn’t forget you

Love

Why do I have faith in Jesus?

Because God, Who is part of the Trinity, knew me before the beginning of the world. He knows you too, if you are destined to be a Christian. He knows every person on Earth and He knows whether you will believe in Jesus for your salvation, so don’t cry about whether you have been chosen by Him or not. Many are called to be saved by accepting Jesus Christ, but few actually accept Him as their Savior.

There is also another reason that I have faith in Jesus. It’s because He loved us, each of us, before the world or anything else was made. God’s love is deeper toward His creation than we can imagine. Our love for our children is one that can’t be explained or taken away. God’s love for us is deeper than that by a LOT! He knew us molecule by molecule as He formed us in the womb, so His love is that deep.

He loved us when we were not lovable. Long before we were born, He knew how our life would turn out and when we would “get it” and give our heart to Jesus. I lived through more than two decades of life before I really found Him and knew that I needed Him as my Savior. Read the Bible, whether you begin at Genesis or with Matthew, sit down and learn about Him and His love for us. Yes, He chose the Jewish people first but He still loved us (Gentiles) before the beginning of everything.

God loves those who are down on their luck. He loves those who have made mistakes in their life, big ones and small ones. He loves those who are prison and those who have been pardoned. Don’t believe the lie that you have been too bad to be useful to God. He used Moses and David, both murderers. He used Saul, who became Paul, and he had been a willing participant in the death of Stephen. He pardoned Peter after Peter denied that he knew Him. God can use your strengths and your weaknesses in His service.