In a consumer-oriented society and a generation that often demands everything in “the now,” it is always good for us to stop and consider the power and impact of the Christian Message. The Bible teaches us about eternal life, of spending an eternity with Jesus Christ in Heaven, or in a place called Hell that was “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). God’s plan for us is that we are born-again (saved), redeemed, brought into right relationship with Himself through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ upon the Cross of Calvary in time (the here and now), that we might live for Him in the doing of His will here on earth and, at the end of our time here, we step into all eternity to spend “forever with the Lord.” The Christian Gospel is so important that if the people of our generation do not get to receive Jesus Christ into their lives, then they have no hope whatsoever of an eternity in His presence! It is a deception to think that we can live selfish lives outside the salvation of Jesus Christ on this earth and then think that God will automatically receive us into Heaven when we die! (It is also a deception when Christians think and live like that too!) How can that change? Only as genuinely born-again, Holy Spirit-filled Christian believers make the people aware of an eternity that is ahead for all of us ~ and that we have the choice of where we will spend it! The choice is ours! When we make the right choice by choosing Jesus Christ as our Personal Lord and Saviour, then we become “eternity conscious.” To be eternity conscious means that we live now in such a way that others are aware that eternity is something very real that awaits every living soul on the face of the earth. In spite of what we usually hear at funerals, not every one goes to Heaven. We must be born-again in Jesus Christ! As much as this world does not want to acknowledge it, there still is only one way to God ~ through the blood of Jesus Christ His Son! We ignore that truth to our eternal peril!

When Christians are gripped with the truth of eternity and the absolute importance of being prepared this side of the grave, then our message and witnessing will take on a much more urgent approach. We should care where people go when they die! We should know that we do have the responsibility to tell people the consequences of the Gospel and what happens when we heed and obey it ~ and also what happens when we fail to heed or obey it. God has put His Message and Commission into our hands and told us to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature . . .” (Mark 16:15-20). What we do with what Jesus commanded us to say and do determines just how eternity conscious we really are. Why is the preaching of the Gospel so important? Because it alone holds the key to the eternal destiny of every human being that ever lived! There is no eternity with God outside of a personal born-again relationship with Jesus Christ. May the truth of the Gospel penetrate our hearts more and more and project us into a greater response to that which Jesus has commanded us. How “eternity conscious” are you? ~ Rodney W. Francis.

Bible  Readings:  Matthew 28:18-20; John 4:34-38; Acts 26:16-23.  

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