thepath2eternity

It’s so easy to get caught up in the details.  How will it happen?  Will I run out of chances?  What acts are good, but not good enough?  Will it really be Heaven if my loved ones don’t get in?  Will my pets be there?  Will I really be praising God constantly?  Will that get boring?  Do deathbed confessions work?  What about age of accountability?  People who never heard the gospel?  What’s this I hear about a new body?  Is the clock ticking?  How fast?  Is it happening here and now, or only in the future?  And on, and on, and on.  

Maybe we should ask a different question.

How much hell do we have to see/suffer/experience before we freely choose Heaven?

I’ve noticed in so many other areas of my life that the more I try to control it, fix it, and make it perfect, the more I struggle.  When I stop trying to do those things, I notice it’s already controlled.  It’s already fixed.  It’s already made perfect.  My only job is to choose.

Perhaps it’s the same with eternity.  

The truth is that I don’t know how it all works.  But maybe I don’t need to.  Maybe I need to stick with simple.

What is simple?

Free will.  We get to choose.  If we didn’t get to choose, it wouldn’t be real.  Love wouldn’t be real.  I don’t want it if it isn’t real.

If I don’t choose now, will I get to choose in the future?  

Maybe we should ask a different question.

Why wait?  

Choosing Him now means experiencing joy now, and even more joy later.  I don’t have to experience hell now or then or ever.  God offers us His love now.  He offers us freedom now.  He offers us the path to Heaven now.  It will only get better from here.  So why is this even a question?

While I’m still on earth as we know it, I won’t escape suffering.  But choosing Him makes it tolerable.  Not choosing Him makes it painful.  

Is eternity physical or spiritual, literal or symbolic?  

Maybe we should ask a different question.

Does it matter?  

Heaven is the presence of God.  Hell is the absence of God.  Physically.  Spiritually.  Literally.  Symbolically.

I’ve noticed that my physical state depends greatly on my spiritual state.  When I’m in sync with Jesus, my physical body feels better – often amazing.  But even when my body is suffering, it’s endurable.  Without Him, it’s just painful.

If my skin is burning, it’s painful.  If my soul is aching, it’s painful.

I don’t want to choose pain.  Physically or spiritually.  Literally or symbolically.

Life is already there.  It’s already given to me through His sacrifice.  I just have to choose.

Choose what?  Choose to accept the gift.  Choose to believe.  For real.

How do I know if I believe for real?  A shift in priorities.  A shift in desires.  A shift in actions.  A shift in perception.

Not sure if that has happened?  Then maybe it hasn’t.  Just as you know if you’ve been in love or not – you know, deep down, if you really believe.  Because it changes you.  You can’t help but feel loved, even while suffering.  You can’t help but love and serve others, even if it doesn’t make sense.  There’s not a specific way to do it.  You just choose and then live out your choice.  And then you notice – honestly notice – if that choice feels like Heaven or Hell.

Does choosing Him mean I have to give up everything?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  

Maybe we should ask a different question.

Are the things/people/activities I’m holding onto temporarily still important eternally?

But wait!  “Some people are worth melting for!”  (Olaf, Frozen)

Before you skewer me for implying your family and dearest friends are not important to eternity, stop and stay with me in the land of simplicity.  Choosing Him first makes us capable of a love that is more powerful than that temporary feeling we try to cling to.  It’s a shift to trusting Him with their lives instead of trusting ourselves.  It releases the pressure and creates a freedom that doesn’t result in giving them up but in drawing them near.  

It’s hard to keep something like eternity simple, I know.  Curiosity is awesome.  I’m not saying I won’t explore.  I’m saying I won’t let the questions paralyze my choice.  I choose Him.  Now.  In the future.  For eternity.