Preparing yourself for eternity...   "...death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart." (Ecclesiastes 7:2b, NIV)   No matter who we are, what we've made of our lives, how successful we've been -- or what we believe, feel or do each day -- all of us will one day lie down and die.  Relatively speaking, that day is not far off.  Over a hundred thousand died very quickly in a single event just recently, as the quake, and then the waves, hit Asian families.   Earthly life is not eternal.  We may spend a few years here, hopefully half a dozen decades or more. More and more people are now able to live well into their eighties and nineties. And some are very active and healthy, both mentally and physically, right up to the end of their lives.   But even if we spend a hundred years or more, living and working or playing in this life, on this planet, that's not very long in the light of what comes after this life. An eternity stretches backward, from the day of our birth, and an eternity stretches onward from the day we die. A few days, a handful of decades, and two handfuls of weeks and months, and then our time here is ended. But after that, whatever follows is forever -- without end.   Well, sort of without end. The Bible teaches that the death of the body itself reaches a kind of end, when all the people who ever lived are raised up to life again. And that brief time (relatively speaking) is a time of judgment, and then after that a new kind of existence begins. Jesus Himself remarks on this, saying, "Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. "Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out -- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." (John 5:25-29, NRSV) Nothing, it seems, lasts forever, except that last and final state of existence. In that final state, after we are judged, we will remain forever. And so, as the passage from Ecclesiastes above says, we do well to consider the fact that we will all face death. No one gets out alive. We should not live our lives here and now as though there is no day of reckoning, no day of righting and balancing again the scales of justice. We will each give an account to God for the life we now live. And only now do we have the power and say, as to how our day of final judgment will go. In the book of Revelation, the last book of the Holy Bible, we read this: "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things that were written in the books. "The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:11-15, NRSV) To have our every thought and action scrutinized by a holy and righteous God can be a very undesirable thing, if we have no way to cover or get rid of the wrongs we’ve committed in this life. There is never an excuse for sin, for any of the selfish or deceitful things we do, any of the things we wrongfully do to others. So how do any of us stand a chance? So how can any of us escape? Only those whose names are written in the Book of Life will be spared the final judgment of the lake of fire. And who are those? The Spirit of God has much to say about these things in the pages of the Bible. Jesus Himself has much to say about eternal fire and judgment for sin. Since we will all face death, and whatever comes after, we should take the time now to know for ourselves what God has to say about all these things. Don’t make the mistake of letting others tell you that nothing really matters, that you will never face judgment. God says you will. And today we can all still do something about it. Tomorrow may be too late. I urge you to read the Bible and ask God to help you understand its message, concerning sin, eternal life, and the final judgment. It's important to read and pay attention to the whole message of Scripture. But you can start in the New Testament, if you're unfamiliar with the Bible. The New Testament is the second of two great parts of the Bible, a little less than half of the Book. And for right now, it may be good for you to know just a couple of the things Jesus Himself says about judgment and eternal life. He said many more things; so don't just stop with these. But for now these may help you to make some important decisions today. Jesus said: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." (John 5:24, NKJV) And again, in another place, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6, NKJV) By putting your trust in Jesus Christ, by believing what God says about sin, death, judgment, and about His eternal Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, you can become a part of God's kingdom and family. You will be born again, as a new child of God. Your name will be written in the Book of Life. And the very angels of heaven will rejoice that one more lost sinner has been saved. As you become truly familiar with the Bible, you’ll read about all these things. But even now you can put your trust, your faith in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit of God calls to you now. And only you can make the choice that will determine where and how you will spend eternity. The Bible says: If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son... And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:9, 11-13, NRSV) For more specific help, click here. God bless you as you make peace with Him today. Jim