Eternity is a Long Time

God is love . We know this not only because the Scriptures explicitly tell us but they also show us. God provided ways to come to Him even when we had turned our backs on Him. Yet the pride people have in themselves or their fear in trusting God cause them to not take advantage of God’s generous mercy. When we do not take advantage of what God offers, then the natural consequences of the condemnation we live with is the result. It started with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden listening to Satan rather than God. Yet God provided for them even as He evicted them from the Garden not only materially but with the  promise of ultimate salvation by one of their posterity . It continued with Cain ignoring God’s desire to be worshiped with a whole heart and becoming jealous of his brother Abel’s close relationship with God. This ultimately lead to Cain’s murder of Abel even after  God encouraged Cain to do what he knew was right . It reached its first wide scale demonstration of Go...

  When we forget that God is the beginning and the end - or the Alpha and Omega as Jesus says of Himself in Revelation - we miss out on so much. Embracing God does not mean we lose ourselves. Au contraire - it means we find ourselves in a way that is impossible any other way. We were created by Him. We find our deepest meaning in Him. To miss this truth is to miss life. To miss this truth is to miss eternity with Him. The result of missing this truth is a horrible end.

When a separated husband and wife get back together; when a father and son start speaking to each other after years of silence; when old pals who fought over a long forgotten issue renew their bonds of friendship it is a beautiful thing indeed. It is reconciliation — and it is exactly what Jesus wants with each of you. You have ignored Him, fought Him and insulted Him by doing what is wrong and not doing what is right in your life — and there are no amount of good deeds that you can do to make up for the sins you have committed. Yet Jesus loves you so much that He took all those bad and terrible things that you have done and paid the ultimate price for them. By dying on that cross for you He took your punishment — for the wages of sin is death; eternal death. By whole-hearted faith in the Son of God you can partake in His sacrifice for you and in His triumph of defeating death with His resurrection. You can be reconciled to God and, ultimately, be with Jesus forever. Without that faith...

  You don’t want to be in the second resurrection. “I speak to you eternal truth: Soon the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will arise with life! For the Father has given the Son the power to impart life, even as the Father imparts life. The Father has transferred to the Son the authority to judge, because he is the Son of Man. “So don’t be amazed when I tell you these things, for there is a day coming when all who have ever died will hear my voice calling them back to life, and they will come out of their graves! Those who have done what is good will experience a resurrection to eternal life. And those who have practiced evil will taste the resurrection that brings them to condemnation!” John 5:25-29

Think of all the really bad people who got away with things during their lifetime and never had to "pay" for them. Is there never any justice? We all know that there are plenty of people who have done really, really bad things but have never been convicted of their crimes in a court of law. Is there any justice for them? Or do they "get away with it"? If you think about this question for long in relation to how God looks at things, you'll realize that He doesn't worry about what we do here on Earth towards each other. What? He knows that we do some nice things and some bad things to other people all the time. It doesn't matter what we do to each other as we are all condemned living here in the world. Each and every one of us. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17) Jesus wouldn't have come if we weren't condemned already. And Jesus came for EVERYONE. "For Go...

  My daughter is taking care of a stray cat who's on the last of his 9 lives. He will soon be going to his eternity. Of course, cats and other animals don't have the same choice we do regarding God. Their nature is aligned with God's plan for them. They are incapable of doing anything else. We humans, on the other hand, have the ability to reason, to think and to make choices. Our biggest choice is whether we choose eternity with our Creator by aligning ourselves and our heart with His plan for us. The alternative is a second death far worse and horrific than your worst fears since you'll experience the deserved punishment for every sin you have ever committed. Choose wisely.