What if eternal life isn't just the way to avoid Hell? What if salvation doesn't just happen after death?
Maybe we have defined salvation as the way to avoid God's wrath after death because, historically, death was the greatest problem in life. People feared atomic bombs during the Cold War, and before that, they feared the death of their men in WWI and WWII, and before that, they feared their children not surviving infancy.
Death has always been common among men . . . until this age when many can just ignore death until our eighties. And if death can be ignored, then a gospel that only means salvation after death can also be ignored. Get on with making money and watching our children grow up and that vacation to Italy!
The result of this, not surprisingly, is a person who believes he is ready for Heaven but has quite a lot of trouble with life here on earth.
Christ and salvation and eternal life are not post-death events, but a change in the quality of our life right now.
I mean, if Christ doesn't make a difference in how I live right now, then he is irrelevant.
And if my religion doesn't hold me up when things get tough, my faith doesn't work?
And if I still believe that if I do x, y, and z, then God will give me a good life, do I have any acquaintance with the God who sacrificed his son?
And if my relationship with God doesn't start on earth, what do I expect to find after death?
"My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion." (1 John 5:13 Message)
If we are to live forever with God, the relationship must start now, not after death. Find out how Christ's work on the cross makes a difference in what you make for dinner, in how you feel about those obnoxious people, in what you have to look forward to tomorrow, in how you view people's opinions and those in authority and what will happen after death.
Find out. Because there is no chance afterwards.
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