Where Will You Spend Eternity?
By Rick Warren
“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 (NIV)
Over the years, I have encountered people who want to deny the existence of evil. They think that people are basically good and by nature unselfish and that they naturally put the needs of others before their own.
I always wonder if those people have ever read the news! You don’t have to look far to see that the world is filled with broken relationships, broken promises, and sin. Evil is all around you—from world politics to local conflicts you can see hatred, bitterness, and corruption.
And because sin and evil exist, hell also exists.
What was true in Noah’s day is still true today: “The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness . . . and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart” (Genesis 6:5-6 NLT).
When God looks at all the wrong, evil things that are done in the world, it breaks his heart because he loves everyone and wants us to learn to love one another.
But God is also holy and just. He is perfect and cannot sin. So one day he will settle the score and right the wrongs: “He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with his truth” (Psalm 96:13 NLT).
Until then, God has given you free will so that you can choose to love him. He allows sin on Earth so that this choice is possible—but he does not allow any sin in heaven. Heaven is a completely perfect place.
If heaven is a perfect place, then that means only perfect people get to go there. Of course, that’s a problem—because you’re not perfect, and neither am I. No one is perfect!
If you’re made to last forever and you’re not perfect, you can't go to a perfect place like heaven. So where will you go? The Bible says hell.
But thank God! He has made a way—through Jesus Christ, his Son—for you to join him in heaven: “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:16-18 NIV).
Hell is real. So is heaven. Choose Christ, and there is no condemnation. The choice is yours!
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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