We’re All Going to Die!

Before I go any further, I need to stress the point that I was a kid. I was a young kid. I was spending time in the mall with my grandma and I asked her one of the big questions kids ask, “Why do people die?” She simply said, “Because people get old.”

I thought about this for a while as we walked to a seating area to rest our feet. We just so happened to be seated around dozens of elderly people. My eyes got big, and I finally understood what my grandma had told me, so I shared it with everyone else. I stood up and pointed my finger at an elderly woman and said, “You’re going to die.” And I kept going as I pointed in a circle: “You’re going to die ... and you’re going to die ... and you’re going to die.” My grandma nearly died right there of embarrassment. She was not happy with me - not because I was wrong - but because it’s apparently not polite to talk about another’s mortality in public.

This is true still today. We will all die and when we die all of us will face judgment. Each of us will either be ushered into Heaven or spend our afterlife in Hell. It’s not polite to talk about; so many Christians don’t. Others talk about it, but like I did as a child they do it in a way that is more spectacle than redeeming.

In our culture, there is a big push to be polite and ignore reality. But the truth is, many people you and I know will end up in hell. Even Christians don’t like talking about it. Those who object, often argue, “But God is love.” Then they refer to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…”

God is love, but they leave out the rest of the passage:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil." John 3:16, 18-19 ESV [Empasis mine]

This verse tells us that God is loving, but those who don’t put their faith in Jesus are already condemned. It also points out that those who reject the light (Jesus), love darkness and their works, their actions, and intentions are evil.

So many like their concept of Jesus as a nice teacher, but He is more than just a teacher. He is the son of God and it is from Him we learn the most about hell. Jesus taught that hell was very real and the only way to be saved was to believe that He came to save their souls. To do that they had to acknowledge they were in need of a savior and repent.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 ESV

God is love, this is why He sent His son to pay the price for our mistakes. If you have not made the decision to accept Jesus as your savior, I’d encourage you to do so now.

God is love; if you are a follower of Jesus, then we should love like Him. This means taking the time to invest in people who don’t know him. Don’t just point fingers at them and chide them for their pending doom. That’s how kids act, instead take the time to get to know them and share the hope, love, and peace you have found in Jesus.

Copyright © 2017 Jayce O'Neal, Ph.D., used by permission.