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Are You Prepared for Eternity?

Are you prepared for Eternity?

That was the question posed to me for this post. Before answering it in a blog post, I had to answer it personally. In doing that, I want to rephrase the question in two parts, which I will then address individually:

1. Are you prepared for eternity?
2. Are you preparing for eternity?

Are you prepared for eternity?

The first question, "Are you prepared for eternity," is to ask, "Do you know where your soul will go when you die?"

Are you going to spend eternity separated from God because you never took the steps required to restore that relationship? Those who have not taken those steps have a severed relationship with God and unless that is fixed in this life, that relationship will remain severed for all eternity. 

How do you restore that relationship in this life? How do you prepare to spend your eternity with God in heaven instead of separated from Him? You can do so by following obediently in the steps detailed for us in the Bible, God's Holy Word.

1. Believe in God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
   Jesus said, in John 8:24, "unless you believe that I Am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins."
2. Confess that belief. In Matthew 10:32, Jesus assures us, "Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven." Essentially, Jesus Christ will be our advocate after we die -- He will tell God the Father, "Yes, this soul restored the relationship."
3. Repent.
   In 2 Peter 3:9, we read, "He (the LORD) does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent."
4. Be baptized. 
   If it weren't enough that Jesus did it (so it's good enough for me), we are also commanded to be baptized. In Acts 2:38, "Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

The relationship with God is restored by grace -- nothing more. These are the steps we are instructed to take in order to receive that gift. It is not forced upon us so we must demonstrate our acceptance. 

I have received God's free gift of grace. I have confessed my sin, professed my belief in God and His Son, repented for my sin, and I was baptized on April 16, 1989. I can answer the first question with, "Yes. I am prepared for eternity. I am confident that my soul will live forever with my God in heaven."

What a blessed assurance. If you aren't sure of your answer to that question, please do not wait! Consider God's gift of grace and don't delay. This weekend, WRCC is having a baptism celebration -- why not follow Christ's example and be sure of your answer as well?

Are you preparing for eternity? 

The second question, as I would like to address it, refers more to how I live my life since having accepted the gift of grace. It saved me, but did it change me? 

If it changed me, then it should show in how I live my life. The book of James expands on how, once we have Christ in our life, it affects not only our eternity, but these aspects of our life on earth:

• how we handle our challenges and pain (James 1:2-12)
• how we respond to temptation (James 1:13-18; 4;7-8)
• how we respond to social injustices and need -- by putting our faith into action. (James 2:1-9; 5:1-6)
• how we speak. (James 1:19-20; 26; 3:2-12)
• how we pray. (James 4:2; 5:13-17)

It is in living out our faith as prescribed above that  we also, as instructed in Matthew 6:19-21, "lay up treasures in heaven."

Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.  Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.  Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. 

If we place value on the things of God and His eternal kingdom instead of on the temporary things of this world, we will have those treasures forever. We work hard in this world to provide a home for our family, clothes, food, etc, and there is nothing wrong with that. But when you look at this lifetime relative to eternity, we are faced with how unimportant those things become. 

Imagine you are on an extended vacation and you arrive at your hotel before they have prepared your room for check-in. They take you to a temporary lounge to wait for your room. While there, you unpack, redecorate, and make yourself at home. In no time, they come to take you to your permanent room. Why did you waste so much energy on something so fleeting?

This world is a temporary. When we use our time, talents, and treasures to accumulate earthly treasures, those are temporary as well. But when we give our resources for Christ's sake, we demonstrate that we value Christ and that we consider other people worth more than our own comfort and preservation.

Another example that somewhat illustrates the concept of laying up treasure in heaven is compound interest. I started contributing to a 401k retirement account when I was only 19 years old and have rolled it from account to account ever since. Choosing to set aside a portion of my income for the future rather than spending it on something I wanted in the moment will pay off. 

Say, for example, I saved, or set aside, a mere $300 from a month's pay when I was 20 years old. At that time, it as worth only $300. (Actually less, after taxes.) I might have been able to buy a VCR  since I was 20 in 1995. Google it, kids.

But by investing it instead, even at a conservative interest rate of 5% , when I am 70 years old, that $300 would be worth $9,127.93, having been multiplied by compound interest over time. The VCR I could have bought in 1995 would be worthless by comparison. 

I see the work and sacrifices we make for Christ and to serve other people instead of accumulating things for our own creature comforts are compounded over time and when we get to heaven, we will find their value is immeasurable. 

Do you want to waste your effort sprucing up a temporary lounge or do you want to live in a mansion in heaven for all eternity? Do you want a VCR today or unfathomable treasures in glory?

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3)

So, are you prepared for eternity? If not, you can fix that immediately. Confess, repent, and be baptized.

And are you preparing for eternity? If yes, keep it up! Could you do even more?

If you are not yet laying up treasures in heaven, what are you waiting for? Get connected and find a place to help and people to serve. Start investing in your eternity today. 

If You Want to Make a Difference, You Have to be Different

Coming off the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, I'm still amazed that He came to this world and lived among us as a human being with the primary mission of dying for our sins and redeeming our eternal souls. Through His death, He saved us, but through His life, he taught us how to live our faith. Jesus did this both by his actions and through His teachings, the most famous of which is, perhaps, "The Sermon on the Mount," found in Matthew 5-7.

In this passage, a sermon delivered to a large crowd of people who had been drawn to Him, Jesus covered a myriad of topics about how His followers should live -- not as was common, but differently. 

• The world says repay evil with evil, but Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek.
• Religious leaders of the time made a display of their prayers, charity, and fasting, but Jesus said to keep those things private.
• The world analyzes and criticizes our every move , but Jesus said, "judge not!" (Matthew 7:1-5)

Do Not Judge Others

In 2012, when I first felt called to jail ministry, I questioned how I could possibly minister to a population of women with whom I had so little in common. Or at least that is what I wanted to think. I have never had so much as a speeding ticket and my only run-in with the law was my elementary school D.A.R.E. program. How could I relate? How could I develop a relationship with addicts and criminals?

Hypocrite!

I was judging them. I was judging myself. I was comparing them to myself. And though I was using the same standard for both, I was using the wrong standard.

The point of Jesus' sermon was to illustrate what it means to live a life just like He lived -- perfect in the sight of God. The sermon also illustrates just how impossible that is for us because of our sinful nature. I was comparing myself to the incarcerated women based on our society's legal standard. By that standard, I believed myself to be much better than they.

But if I compare myself (and others) ONLY to the perfect standard modeled by Christ, I had to admit that I am exactly like those women. I am a sinner. Romans 3:23 reminds us, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. "All," as in, "everyone, even me."

God convicted me that I am just like that cartoonish character described in Matthew 7:3, who attempts to remove a tiny splinter from another's eye, all while I have a giant log embedded in my own, blinding me to the reality of my situation.

When I started looking to the standard set by Jesus Christ and the standard He detailed in His sermon, I realized I have a lot more in common with every woman in the Hamilton County Jail than I do with Jesus Christ. The most common bond we share is that we all need a savior, not another judge. 

When I admitted my own weaknesses, my own faults, and my own sinful nature, and accepted my dependence on grace, I realized I was in no position to judge others and it is not my place to do so. Later in the passage, vs 12, Jesus gives, "The Golden Rule," imploring us to treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated.

How do I want to be treated? Do I want to be met by others with criticism and harsh judgement? (And believe me, there is plenty to judge.) Or do I want to be met with grace and love? That's an easy one. And since I want to be treated with grace and love, that is exactly how I need to treat others -- even addicts and criminals. Especially addicts and criminals. 

Does Jesus teach us to ignore the speck in the eye of a friend? Does Jesus instruct me to ignore the actions of the women to whom He has called me to minister? Not at all! I can acknowledge it, but I am not to judge.

If I ignore the chains of addiction that are dragging another person down, how can I help her realize that Jesus can break them? If I ignore the fact that women have chosen alcohol, or drugs, or ______, or _____, or whatever has control on their lives, how can I effectively help them learn that Jesus loves them and offers a better way?

In Matthew 7:5, Jesus explains, "First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye."

He doesn't say, "then you can judge your friend," rather He says, "then you can deal with," it. And we deal with that speck the same way we deal with the log in our own eye -- through the grace afforded us through Jesus Christ.

It is in admitting our own sinful nature that we learn how to help others experience the same joy we have in Christ. It is in admitting our own faults that we come to realize we don't have the right to judge those of others. When we seek to help others, we can come from a position of loving humility, rather than from a place of proud judgement.

That is how we follow the "upside down" advice of Jesus Christ. That is how we live differently. That is how we can make a difference.