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“You can chance your eternity on the views of Freud and Darwin if you want. I’m putting my trust in Jesus Christ.” ~ A Matter of Faith (movie)
I pulled this quote from “A Matter of Faith”, a movie about a first-year college student whose professor teaches the big bang theory as fact. The student doesn’t seem too bothered by this. But when her father finds out what she is being taught, he is concerned. He confronts the professor and the professor challenges the father to a debate; atheism vs. Christianity. It’s a pretty good movie, I’d recommend it.
But this quote stood out to me because it’s a very fair question. Why chance your eternal existence on the possibility that God, heaven, hell, all of it, isn’t true? Because WHAT IF YOU’RE WRONG?
Can you imagine, sitting at the dinner table one night, and suddenly Jesus appears in the sky and takes his people, and you’re just left behind. That thought alone is scary enough, let alone what follows. Why take the risk?
It just blows my mind how many people won’t even try to seek God. Why would you not want to know your Creator?
In the end, people seriously need to weigh the costs. And before they make a final decision on what they believe, seriously do some studying, seeking, and praying. God will answer anyone who is serious.
I’m writing this post about a week after world-famous basketball player Kobe Bryant and one of his daughters died in a helicopter accident. Just like the rest of the world, I was in shock. You hear about people dying every day. But when it’s someone close, or someone you admire or look up to, someone with a big name like Kobe, it really hits home.
Kobe’s death was sudden. He didn’t know it was coming. He couldn’t plan for it. It just happened out of nowhere.
That’s how death works. Death comes even when you have plans.
Death doesn’t care if you have a date tonight, or that you have class in the morning. Death doesn’t care if you’re pregnant, or if you are about to get married in five days. It can strike at any hour.
It comes, and it comes suddenly in most cases.
When tragedies like this hit, it really shakes everyone. And I hope that it gives people a wake-up call.
The Bible says (ESV):
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” ~ James 4:13-15
Tomorrow is not promised to any of us.
None of us are exempt from death. It doesn’t matter how big your name is. We will all die and face God one day. All of us! No exceptions.
And we will do it alone. We won’t have our fans, or family, friends, colleagues, witnesses…we won’t have anyone there to plead our case, to explain to God just how “good” we were.
When that fateful day arrives, and you take your final breath, it will just be you and God. What will you have to show for your life?
I know most people reading this blog are probably already Christians. But if not, I strongly urge you to do some soul searching. And ask yourself this very serious question: Why risk your eternity?
Let me remind you what eternity has in store for those who believe and accept Christ as their savior:
- Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. ~ John 5:24 (ESV)
- In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ~ John 14:2-3 (ESV)
- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ~ John 3:16 (ESV)
- For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ~ Romans 10:13 (ESV)
- You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. ~ Psalm 16:11 (ESV)
Eternity is forever.
Let me repeat that. ETERNITY IS FOREVER!
It’s not a one-time appointment or a short meeting that will come to an end. Eternity will never end. It goes on for all time.
The stakes are high, and it’s too important to risk your forever.
As Christians, we should constantly be praying for those who have not accepted Christ into their lives.
I know Hell is not a fun or popular topic to discuss, even for Christians. We often brush over the truth of Hell, and focus on all the fluffy, feel-good parts of Christianity.
I did not intend for this post to be all doom and gloom. But I’m here to speak truth and this is part of it.
There is an existence that is separate from God. And this is not an existence that I want anyone to experience.
So, I pray. I pray for those I love and those I don’t know. I pray for our nation and the world. I pray for strangers and my neighbors.
Why risk forever?
If you have a friend or loved one who is questioning or does not believe, simply ask them this question. Why risk your eternity?
God bless!
