from here to eternity

When I was 18 years old, my sister challenged me to read the New Testament of the Bible. At the time the challenge was given I had been religious all of my life, acknowledged that there was a God, went to church every Sunday and was looking for absolutely nothing. I had also never felt the desire to open the Bible and see what it actually said. After all, wasn't my religion supposed to be teaching me what I should know about God? Never the less, something compelled me to take the challenge.

It took me 2 months to read the New Testament (500 pages) and when I finished, I was very disturbed because what I had been taught about how you get to Heaven was not what the Bible was saying. I had been taught that if you were a good person, you would go to Heaven. But the Bible said you had to be perfectly sinless in order to qualify, and I sure wasn't that. Then I started to think that if you could achieve Heaven by being good, then why did Jesus Christ die on the cross?  

The Bible also stated that there was no one righteous and that's why we needed a Savior, which was Jesus Christ. He paid the price for our sins through His death and resurrection and He extends salvation as a free gift to anyone who will accept it. There was nothing we could do in God's eyes to earn it. That was the hardest thing for me to accept, that it was free because all my life I had been used to earning every good thing I got. I wrestled with this conflict for days. Who was I supposed to believe, my religion or God’s Word, the Bible?

I continued to struggle with what was correct and then one day at the apartment complex I worked at, a man came in to look at an apartment. When he left, he handed my father a Bible tract called God's Simple Plan of Salvation. I still remember my father throwing the tract down onto the table and it slid toward me but stopped in the middle. I had to reach out for it and when I picked it up, I read it and the words seem to put every conflict I had been wrestling with into perspective. That night it all finally became clear what I needed to do. So at 11:15pm, on October 30, 1972 I made a decision of faith to accept the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the only atonement for my sins. 

From that point on my life was forever changed and I now enjoy a personal relationship with God that’s strong, respectful and loving, like a wide-eyed child’s reliance on a beloved father. This relationship has grown stronger everyday as I continue to study God’s Word. Now, I strive to do good out of reverence for God and His desire for me to be one of His earthly representatives. My guidelines for living now come from Biblical standards, as opposed to what this fallen society deems acceptable.

Living a God-centered life has given me a firm foundation that has kept me stable and focused through life's many trials in this fallen world. My true joy comes from the thought of eternity with the God of this Universe, as opposed to the quest for momentary pleasures in this earthly life.

Think about it. One day, maybe even today, you will stand before God and have to show an accounting of yourself. What will you say when the time comes? Will you stand on your own merit, which the Bible describes as filthy rags, or will you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and claim His blood sacrifice as the covering for your sins?

As my sister did with me so many years ago, I'd like to challenge you to read the New Testament of the Bible and see for yourself what God’s Word actually says.

Our physical life here on earth is a mere vapor in the scheme of forever. Don’t lose out on eternity in Heaven due to ignorance or arrogance. Investigate God’s Word for yourself.

Suggested places in the New Testament of the Bible to begin reading. 

The Gospel of John

The Letter of Paul to the Romans

What I Thought I Knew, But Really Didn't ...