I grew up in a very traditional Southern-style Christian home and environment. We went to church every Sunday morning and evening, every Wednesday night, and occasionally to prayer meetings throughout the week. For the most part, I honestly enjoyed my upbringing, but as I’ve grown in my understanding of faith throughout the years I can see so much of how “tradition” left me bound in a lot of areas without my even realizing it.
One of the most complicated pieces of Christian faith that I can recall being taught growing up revolved around the concept of eternity. The afterlife. What comes after death… eternal life. Even those of you who do not hold to Christian faith know what we believe in this area – that there are only two options. I want to make something clear before we get rolling, though. I want to make sure everyone understands that regardless of where you, yourself, fall on the spectrum of faith/belief/eternity, my personal belief still holds to this as truth – there are only two options after death: eternal separation from God (hell) or eternal life WITH God (heaven).
Now, before people start freaking out about where I’m going with this, I promise, this is not a turn or burn sermon, though the concept of the turn or burn sermon may come up as I continue writing. We’ll see what happens…
As I said above, the concept of eternity was one of the most complicated pieces of my teaching in Christian faith growing up. Not that I ever doubted any of it. The problem was that what I was taught to believe surrounding this concept evoked a serious and intense fear inside of me. Whether intentionally or not, most of my childhood I was led to believe that my salvation could be lost at any moment. That my hope for eternal glory with Jesus could be gone in a flash by the simple act of yelling at my sister if she made me angry, or if I talked back to my mom, or if I told a lie, or if I cheated on a test a school. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning any of these things… I’m trying to make a point.
I’ve mentioned to a select few people over the years that I can clearly recall being a young tween at home with my siblings after school waiting for our parents to get home from work, and if for some strange reason they weren’t home at the time I anticipated (this was pre-cell phones) I would often times begin to panic internally. My thoughts would go wild inside my mind, and I would automatically start wondering if the RAPTURE had taken place and I was left behind. I would go through the last few days and try to remember anything I had done wrong that may have caused me to “lose” my salvation. Sometimes I would even turn on the tv to see if The News happened to be reporting on sudden flashes of mass hysteria breaking out as people went missing all over the globe. When my parents got home and I knew everything was actually okay, it was common practice for me to immediately start praying silently and internally to God, begging Him to forgive me for any sins I may have forgotten I committed, and asking Him (once again) to save me so I could ENSURE I would NOT be one of those left behind like the kids in those books my aunt gave me.
Seems pretty crazy and intense, huh? Yeah… that’s ‘cause it was. I was almost literally scared to death of Hell and the possibility of going there, and had absolutely no faith or confidence in my salvation that was offered freely to us through Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection.
[Side Note: Really quickly, I just need to state that I have no intention to speak badly of those who raised and taught me in the faith. I see traditionalism and misunderstanding as the faults, not people.]
Since I returned from my mission trip last November, for some reason the concept of eternity has been heavy on my heart. I’m seeing some reasons for why as I’ve been processing, but none of it has to do with fear or being afraid. It’s like God has removed the misunderstood concepts that were deeply engraved inside of me, and is rewriting them with truth as I’ve been studying what He has to say about eternity in His Word.
The truth is I do not believe, whatsoever, that God ever intended for eternity to be something we fear. In fact, it seems pretty clear to me that His intention was, and is, for eternity to evoke hope inside of us. While the existence of Hell, and the fact that it is a place where people will end up should call forth a sense of somberness for those who will reach that destination, and reverent respect for God and His sacrifice, the fact that He has freely offered us a gift – that whosoever believes in Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection, and confesses Him to be their Lord and savior will have eternal life – should bring about a sense of joy, hope, peace and confidence. Not fear or anxiety.
Let me share a few passages from the Word with you:
1 John 5:13 – I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may KNOW that you have eternal life
Romans 2:7 – to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He WILL give eternal life;
1 John 2:25 – And this is the PROMISE that He made to us – eternal life
John 6:47 – Truly, Truly, I say to you, whoever believes HAS eternal life
Hebrews 9:15 – Therefore He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the PROMISED eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant
1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 – But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Ephesians 2:8-9 – For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast
These are just a few of the passages that speak of the confident assurance that those who have chosen to believe should have in our salvation. What I find adds to the awesomeness of this is that this confidence in the hope of our salvation is what should become the fuel, igniting a reckless and passionate resolve to follow Jesus in total abandonment because we can now truly understand “to live is Christ, to die is gain.” If I die, I gain eternal life. If I live, I have Christ with me because His Spirit lives with and in me, guiding my path.
1 Peter 5:10 – And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you
2 Corinthians 5:1 – For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home {Paul is speaking metaphorically about our bodies, here} is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens
Have you ever found yourself thinking about the sufferings the Apostles endured for the sake of spreading the Gospel and wondering how they endured it? I mean, all of the original 12 disciples, with the exception of John, the Beloved, died unnatural deaths… 10 of them were martyred (Judas Iscariot hanged himself). But even John, the beloved, was forced to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. How did they endure it? Because they had seen the truth, and found hope and confidence in the eternal reward. The gift freely given that cannot be won by any act of man. And just because I got mad at my sister when I was 11 and punched her in the arm, that didn’t nullify my proclamation of faith in Jesus, nor the desire that has been inside of me since my initial claim to salvation to love my God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength.
Even Paul, himself, still messed up sometimes as he told the Romans in Romans chapter 7. It doesn’t mean we should just go about living sinfully just because we can… we should seek holiness and righteousness, but even when/if we mess up we an still walk confidently and boldly knowing we are SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH, not works.
Would you like to know another awesome thing that confidence in this hope should bring about in believers? Love. That’s right. Love. Love for our savior because we know that He loved us first – so much so that He died and payed the price for our sins. It’s that love for Him that should make us want to do what is right in His sight… not fear. “If you love Me you will keep My commandments.” I do, or at least want to do, what He says because I love Him, not because I’m afraid of Him or Hell.
So, the case in point is that eternity is very real, but it’s not something we should ever find ourselves fearing or being anxious about. It’s okay to say that Hell is real, and yes… unfortunately some people will end up there. But they don’t have to. Listen and hear these words… THERE IS HOPE, my friends!!! God loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son to die for us! That anyone who believes in Him, His Son… Jesus Christ, can have eternal life, not death!!! You don’t have to be afraid! It’s a free gift from a loving God, for all who believe, and there is no fear in love. Perfect love, which God has, casts out all fear.
I’ll end with this passage from 1 John 4:15-17. As you read it, ask Holy Spirit to reveal the meaning to you, and I’m believing that He will:
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has or us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as He is so also are we in this world.”
