“I know I’m going to hell.” One of Christopher’s hanging partners, Jeff, said jokingly when they were all talking about faith in Jesus Christ. Jeff’s grandmother took him to church every Sunday when he was little. It was where he discovered his talent for singing. He loves Gospel music, but no longer has a passion for its message. He indulges as many pleasures these modern times afford him, and although his best friend, Christopher, and their other buddies love the Lord, Jeff says he doesn’t see himself living a Christian life. In the past, Jeff has been the kind of friend that can be counted on when times are tough, and Christopher is praying that his friend will turn his life around and come back to Christ.
Colossians 2:13(NLT) tells us, “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.” Before we confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord, believed that God resurrected him from the dead, and gave our lives to Christ, we were dead because of our sins against God. We had a spirit that wasn’t alive to Him, and we lived in a way that didn’t please our Heavenly Father. When we gave our lives to Christ, this all changed. God sent His Holy Spirit to come live inside us, and the Spirit recreated our dead spirit. We became alive to God! He has forgiven our sins, and now we will live an eternity with Him.
Jesus Christ declared in John 3:16(NKJV), “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus Christ is more important to God than any of us can know, and yet, our Heavenly Father allowed His beloved Son to endure the humiliation and suffering of the cross so that we, you and me, could live an eternity with Him. God made us sons and daughters through the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ, and because of this, we have stepped into His eternal being and will be with Him without end.
John 3:16 is the love verse because it expresses God’s unyielding, unconditional, and limitless love for every person. Even when our friends are ride-or-die in our book, there’s still a huge difference between the way that God loves us and the way that people who don’t honor Him love us. Their love is conditional. They come and go, and when they want out, some of them demonstrate very clearly that they do not love us. They choose to withdraw their love and devotion and walk away. So, they treat us very poorly sometimes, but our Heavenly Father will never walk away or treat us poorly. He invites every person to come to Him and allow His love to transform them. When we accept His invitation by giving our lives to Him through Jesus Christ, we are expressing our faith in His love and our desire to be in God in Christ forever more. Those who refuse His invitation don’t want a future with Him, and they reject the gift of eternal life that He offers.
Jeremiah 29:11(The Message) says, “This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree. “I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.”
Nothing in this life is guaranteed except the goodness and righteousness of our God. He can be relied upon, and He will never fail us. Only He can give us a future to hope for. He’s committed Himself to give us this kind of future, and life just gets better and better with Him. We can have every confidence in this. God wants us to be with Him without end, and He’s guaranteed this promise through the sacrifice and resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. If an individual knew the truth about the terror of hell, they would never make a statement like the one Jeff made. It’s a fate worse than any of us can imagine, but thankfully, in His overwhelming love, mercy and grace, God made an escape for us through Christ. He’s given us a home in His Kingdom and made it possible for us to live an eternity with Him. The Good News is that all we have to do is accept His gift with an open heart, and He will do the rest. ■
Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“A Future to Hope for, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2024. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.