Everyone Must Prepare to Meet God

WILL WE REALLY MEET GOD ONE DAY?

Each of us must respond to the knowledge of God, which prepares us for our eventual death.  When we die, we will immediately stand before God to give an account of how we chose to live our lives.  Choosing to follow God and having no other idols in our lives is a very important lesson.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

The Old Testament explains the rituals that were kept by the Jews before the time of Jesus.  Things were not going as God intended.  So God decided to teach the world about Himself by sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, as the Savior of the world.  Jesus taught how we should live in order to enter the Kingdom of God when we die.  Many followed but others persecuted Him.  The persecutors sentenced Him, an innocent man, to death.  But Jesus prevailed!  When He rose from the dead, He proved He was the actual Son of God, sent as Savior of the world (not just a prophet).  And we must realize this:  Jesus IS going to come back one day--not as our Savior (like the first time), but as our Judge.

When we believe these life-changing truths, we understand that God pursues us and asks us to trust in His plan for our lives.  God will have mercy on us and forgive us, but we must ask for forgiveness of our sins (intentional sins as well as the unintentional). God asks us to live in a way that demonstrates our love for Him, and for others.  This is why He shows us mercy—so that we will also show mercy and forgiveness to every person who has ever offended or hurt us.  This action demonstrates a person who has a heart for God as well as for others.

The bottom line is this:  to get into Heaven, you need only to have FAITH in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8).   It is the kind of faith that literally transforms your life!  Any religion that says you need faith + good works to be saved is a false religion.  And any religion that says you need faith + (this ritual or that act) is a false religion.  Faith is the only thing that can save you.  It is a faith that comes from your heart, trusting God in all things.   The result of this kind of faith is good works, but good works do not save you (they are simply a demonstration of your faith).  Only faith in Jesus Christ can save a person and allow them entrance into Heaven.

SUGGESTIONS FOR LEARNING AND GROWING IN YOUR FAITH:

Here are some suggestions to help understand God as well as solidify the importance of preparing to meet Him:

1/ Spend some time researching answers to your questions - Study God’s word (found only in the Holy Bible) so that you have the ability to make a decision about what you believe.  It may seem easy to just blow off the knowledge of God and the sacrifice Jesus made to save humanity.  When you understand the critical nature of God’s “escape plan” for us, you start devoting time to researching answers—enabling you to make the most important decision of your life.

2/ Humble yourself to the truth that you are a sinner.  No one can stand against the perfection of Jesus.  The moment we accept this fact is the moment we can open our hearts to God and ask Him for forgiveness of all sins.

3/ Say out loud “I am going to die someday.”  Your head will spin when you also say out loud “I am going to exist forever.”  Only when we understand our own mortality in this life and then the choice we have as to where we will be spending eternity do we really understand the importance of preparing to die.  God waits for our response and we need to be clear on God’s expectation.  He is a loving and merciful God but we need a healthy fear of the Lord to understand the reality that one day we will be asked by the King of Kings to account for what we did in this life.  The decision is ours—Heaven or Hell—and then taking the next step to respond to the gospel message if we truly want to have eternal life in Heaven with our King.

4/ Know that death is not a respecter of people.  God will knock on your door one day in this life.  When we think about how long eternity is, it is humbling to know that our lives here are brief.  And because of the brevity of life, all of us should be compelled to take action as soon as possible to ensure salvation.  We must live God’s way so that we can be saved.  Jesus defeated sin and death and so can you, but only with God’s help.

5/ Make a decision today to follow Jesus and God’s word.  Find a bible-teaching church and attend services to help with your decision.  Jesus died for the debt we cannot pay on our own.  Because Jesus already paid our debt when He died and rose back to life 3 days later, there is no reason that we should be working to pay any debt we owe to God when He has already made that provision for us.  When we insist on paying our own debt, the bad news is that we continue living apart from God.  Attempting to pay on your own will never be enough--because God’s standard of perfection is Jesus.  No one, not one of us, compares to the perfection of Jesus Christ (Romans 3:10-12).  Say yes and allow Jesus to pay your debt for you.  When accepting Jesus truly comes from your heart and your understanding that you need God’s forgiveness to enter Heaven, you will see the ease in making this decision.

Everything you accepted and needed to make your decision will be confirmed for you when you participate in a local bible-teaching church.