|
Original Christian artwork: Illustration of a man who ends
up in hell, trying to wait too long to make things right with
God.
Some people just keep putting off the one thing they most need
to take care of. They sometimes even make jokes about
going to hell, because that's where all their friends are.
Or they may be so against God that they say they'll believe in
Jesus when hell freezes over. Of course, that's the whole
problem. Hell will never freeze over. Once you end
up there, that's where you're going to stay — forever. And
it will do you no good to blame God for your situation.
God does care what happens to you. He cares so much that
He did a great many extraordinary things to make it possible for
you to escape hell and all the suffering of the damned. In
fact, God sent His own Son into the world as the little baby
Jesus. Jesus had already been God's one and only Son for
all eternity. Scripture says that He was in the beginning
with God, and that He was God, just as the Father is also God.
It says that He made all things, and that nothing exists in this
universe that was not made by Him.
Then the Bible goes on to say that He came into the world, among
His own people (the children of Abraham), and that His own
people rejected Him, but that as many as received Him, those He
gave the right to become children of God. All of this is
written in the Gospel of John, in the very first chapter, right
there in the New testament. Anyone can read it for
themselves in the Bible.
The Bible makes it very clear that God cares so much for human
beings that He gave us Jesus, allowing Him to go to the cross to
die for the sins of the world. Jesus said that He
willingly laid down His own life for those who believed in Him.
His sheep, He called us. John the Baptist called Jesus the
Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
All through the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, God
reveals how Jesus suffered in our place, taking on our sins, so
that we could be made right with God. The Bible says
plainly that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
People who end up in hell are there because they reject God's
offer of forgiveness and eternal life. It's that simple.
They may have been around church all their lives. But they
closed their hearts to God's love and saving truth. They
may have lived where no one even knows about Jesus. Still,
God would have turned the world upside down for them had they
simply responded to the calling of His Holy Spirit.
Someone, somewhere, somehow would have brought the gospel
message to them.
God knows where you and I stand in our hearts. He does not
need to wait until we face Him after we leave this world.
He knows exactly what is in our hearts. So you may argue
about this or that idea, and complain about how religion
turns you off, and why you just can't believe the gospel.
Make all the excuses you want. It makes no difference.
Reality is not so complex as all that. Your eyes and mind are blinded to
the truth because you have closed your heart to the Lord. He
calls but you won't listen. And so you cannot understand
the simple truth. You allow people or circumstances, or
anything at all, to become a barrier to faith.
Be careful that you don't wait too long to soften your heart
toward God. Don't try to wait until hell freezes over.
If you keep putting off righteousness with God, you will one day
find yourself beyond the point of no return. You may
discover for yourself just how real hell really is. That
would not be God's choice for you, but the results of your own
foolish pride.
See more Christian graphics illustrating hell
here and
here.
The above graphic may be used by Christian believers in various kinds of
personal witness, for church programs, and other Christian
activities. There is no charge for this use, so long as
the copyright/credit info is included with the image or a link
back to this site is provided.
To use the graphics on this site,
right click the image (Mac users hover the mouse cursor over the
image) and select the "Save As" or "Save Image As" and save the
file on your computer's hard drive. Images not saved to
your computer will not work properly (especially animated GIF
files), or will likely suffer broken links in a short time.
|
