Who Am I? Living and Leaving With Hope.

Who am I to question someone's salvation?
I have been asking myself this over and over and over this past year.
Heaven and Hell ARE real.  Both real places, and each one of us will go to one of them one day.

When someone dies and I know... I know they did not have Jesus in their heart.  They did not live a Christ centered life.  I know.  My child asks me, in a little voice from the backseat of the vehicle or from across the dinner table, or while being tucked in at night..."Did they love Jesus?" And, I have to answer with a trembling voice, a lump in my throat, and truth, "No".  And my child knows too.

You know that old children's song that goes like this, "Heaven is a wonderful place.  Filled with glory and grace, I wanna see my Savior's face 'Cause Heaven is a wonderful place.  I wanna go there!"  If you haven't heard it, you need to.  And, if you have, you're welcome.  I hope that it continues to play over and over in your head today too, and that the words to this simple, yet catchy, children's song really sink into you and that you too will know His glory and grace, and have a longing to see and be in that wonderful place.
(Click HERE to here the Heaven Is A Wonderful Place song.)

Why is it that those closest to us seem as if they may be the hardest to reach and the hardest to talk to?  And, they are the few that my mind often goes to and my thoughts get consumed with.  Thoughts of being in Heaven, that wonderful place, without them there too are gut-wrenching sad to me.... But how can I help them see God's grace and His love?

Do you want to go to Heaven?  Do you know what it takes to get there? My heart aches for those who don't know Jesus.... My friends and relatives who don't know Him and the Bible and the truths found in it.  They are lost.  They have gone astray.  *All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.  Isaiah 53:6  The good news is that God will forgive us all if we ask.  He is a forgiving God.  I want to lead them back to Jesus.  I want to shake them, scream at them, "FOLLOW HIM!"  Run after Him.  I want what is best for you and so does Jesus.  He loves YOU!  But there is only one way.  *Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.   John 14:6  *Jesus also said in the Sermon On The Mount, "Enter by the narrow gate.  For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."  Matthew 7:13-14   Both the narrow gate and the wide gate are assumed to provide the entrance to God's kingdom.  Two ways are offered to everyone.  The narrow gate is by faith, only through Christ, constricted and precise.  It represents true salvation in God's way that leads to life eternal in Heaven.  The wide gate includes all religions of works and self-righteousness, with no single way, but it leads to Hell, not Heaven.

I know that I cannot reach others by myself.  I have to have God's help.  I have prayed and asked Him to give me the words, to give me the right moments, to help me be a light.  I can live a life of example.  I can be Christlike and show them with MY life, but I need God to help me.  He WILL give me divine opportunities.  And, I have to be ready.  *but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.  For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.  1 Peter 3:15-17

Do you know that you will not get to Heaven by good works alone?  The reality is that being a "good" person doesn't get you to heaven.  This is a hard one...another gut-wrenching, hard one.  I know.  I have known "good" people.  Really "good" people, who did very good things.  They helped others.  They gave their time, their money, and their talents, but they did not love and serve God.  The Bible is very clear on this.  *I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?" And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Matthew 19:24-26   Jesus was telling the disciples that good works/merit and riches will not get you into Heaven.  Divine Grace, following after God, and living a Christlike life will.  *Jesus said, "I am the door.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."   John 10:9-10  These two verses are a proverbial way of insisting that belief in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God is the only way of being "saved" from sin and Hell and receiving the free gift of eternal life in Heaven.  Jesus Christ is the one true source for the knowledge of God and the one basis for spiritual security.

This reality is one that is very very hard for me.  Remember, I know a lot of "GOOD" people that do a LOT of "GOOD" things, but are they following after God?  Are they living a Christlike life?  The hard reality is, no.  That is the gut-wrenching sad part for me.  That is where I want to scream from my rooftop, don't wait, tomorrow is not promised. Start NOW!  Do it for your family.  Do it for your eternity.  JUST DO IT.  Please don't leave me, your parents, your children, your spouse, your friends, with no hope of seeing you again.

Lying at a funeral.  It happens.  A preacher will stand up in front of the crowded church.  He will talk about the life of the deceased.  He, along with other mourners, want to comfort and give HOPE to the family left behind.  That hope that they are talking about is the PROMISE of HEAVEN.  The promise of eternal life.  An eternal life with Christ and our loved one's who have gone before us and had Jesus in their hearts and lived a Christ-filled life. Don't make a preacher lie at your funeral.  Don't leave your loved one's without that HOPE.  Without the hope of ever seeing you again.  If you have not already, find Christ and make Him the center of your life, and of your families life today.

*Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! Psalm 143:10