Eternal Life is Now!

Over the past six months or so, I’ve thought about how I’ve shared the gospel with people, particularly while in Guatemala.  It seems morbidly logical, when sharing the gospel with those in the clinics who have just seen the doctor, to talk about what will happen to them when they die.  Will they go to heaven or to hell?  That is the way I heard the gospel as a child, and I accepted Jesus as my savior because I didn’t want to walk out of church, get struck by a bus, and go to hell. 

Our destination after this life on earth is extremely important.  Once we leave this earth, there is no opportunity to change our destination.  If we have accepted Jesus as our savior, we will spend eternity with Him in heaven.  If we have not, we will spend eternity separated from God in hell.  But people often are not immediately concerned with their life after this life on earth.  That seems like it’s in the distant future, and they need hope for now.

Salvation is more than a way to escape hell.  Salvation offers an immediate relationship with God that we can only have if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that He died for our sins and was raised from the dead.  When people are suffering from pain, sickness and poverty, physical abuse and attack from Satan’s demons, they need hope.  Not just hope for when they die.  They need hope to get them through this life.

I’m praying that God will teach me how to share the hope that Jesus brings for this life and for the next.  I want to offer more than a fire escape from hell.  My relationship with God means much more than that to me, and that’s what I want to tell others about.

Think about it as you prepare to go to Guatemala.  Get ready to tell your story.  If you know Jesus as your savior, you have a story to tell.  What does Jesus mean to you and what does He have to offer to those who don’t know him?