Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Give Up Hope

When I was a teenager, if you asked me whether or not I would go to heaven one day, I would have told you that I was trying to be a good person and I sure hoped that if I died, I would go to heaven. Surely that seemed fair enough. I hadn't robbed any banks and I helped an old lady with her groceries once in the supermarket parking lot, so I figured I was +1 in the good/bad God tally sheet. But when someone asked me how I could be sure that was enough... it started to bother me to think about that eventual day when I showed up at the gates, not knowing whether I would get the thumbs up or the escalator down. I decided to do a little more research.

Thankfully, I found a clear answer. "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.(Romans 10:9) " For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. " (John 3:16) That's it. Now that is a hope I can count on. How about you? Will you just continue on and "hope" everything works out ok, or will you put your faith in the promises of God?