Heaven or Hell
Do you believe in Heaven and Hell? Most people probably do in some form or fashion. But what do we actually do about it?
It was meant to be a quick trip to Wal-Mart to pick up bright colorful paper napkins to go with my paper plates for small group at my house tonight. (After all every good Southern girl knows that when you have company you are supposed to bring out all of your finery and since I was going to use the unacceptable paper products, I thought that they should at least be cute.) However God had other plans…surprise… surprise…surprise.
Headed down Highway 6, I took the wrong turn, but figured I would just take the side road to get to my destination. But after missing the second turn off I pulled into City Market instead. Well, I mused, why did God want me at the grocery store instead of the big discount store? Entering the supermarket I ran into a young girl from church and had a quick conversation—that probably wasn’t the divine appointment. A few minutes later I saw a neighbor and her daughter, but nothing important was discussed there either. And then suddenly as I was walking down the seasonal aisle, I overheard a conversation between two co-workers where one was questioning the other about his health. The reply came, “I don’t mind being sick, I’m just not looking forward to dying.”
While continuing on, I felt the urge to return to the two strangers. Not sure exactly what to say, the words came out of my mouth, “I heard you saying that you are dying and I just want to make sure you know where you are headed. Are you going to heaven? More importantly do you know Jesus?” (Wow…where did that come from? Not me, but I think I know where.)
The man quickly retorted, “That’s not my philosophy.” He didn’t say it wasn’t his religion, or his faith or his belief, or his Savior, but philosophy. The co-worker shook her head in affirmation and said that she believed what I did, but the conversation was obviously over. The sick and dying man was already walking away.
I walked back to the paper products and the young woman stopped to thank me for telling the man about Jesus and I encouraged her to be a light to the man and to water the seeds that had been planted.
No cute paper napkins were found at City Market, so I returned to my car to drive to my original destination, Wal-Mart. As I shut the door behind me, I was distraught for the man in the store. He was dying and didn’t care that he was headed for Hell nor did he even want to find out more about Jesus to see if perhaps he might want to know Him so he could be assured of his final destiny.
I have no doubt that God sent me to that store today. God cares deeply for this lost man. God wants to bring him into a relationship with him so that he can be at peace with dying. And God wants him to spend eternity with Him as His precious child.
Everyday we encounter people who may be healthy, but are still dying and headed to Hell. Do we take the time to stop and tell them about our Savior? This is the whole reason that Jesus came to this earth. It wasn’t just to live a sinless life; He could have continued doing that while seated on the throne in Heaven. He came to die so that we could live. He came to conquer the grave, so that we too could rise from the dead.
Do you tell others about your Savior, or are you just satisfied that you know where you are headed? If you truly believe that there is a place called Hell shouldn’t you warn everyone that you know and even strangers that you meet each day?
Sitting in my car, I bowed my head and prayed for the man in the store and for many others that I know who have not yet accepted the blood of Jesus as payment for their sins. I pray that the name of Jesus will just keep ringing in his ears until God puts someone else in his path to water the seed and to bring it forth to harvest. Please join me in praying for a stranger to become a brother.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
(I think of this as being the gospel in a nutshell.)
Comments