Being Good Isn't Enough
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
-- John 3:16
And he is headed straight to hell when he dies because he refuses to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
Some folks just don't understand that acknowledging Jesus as a real person and opening your heart to Him and accepting His gift are two different things. Even Satan knows who Jesus is but it certainly doesn't mean he's headed to heaven.
It's so frustrating to talk with someone who's going to "take his chances." Or, worse, someone who believes there's no point because "we're all going to hell anyway." How does a person live without the hope Jesus has freely given to all of us?
The answer, of course, is unhappily. The man I described above lost his wife to a horrible disease. He has no hope of seeing her again because, though she was a Christian, he is not. While she entered heaven and walked into the waiting arms of her Heavenly Father, he will not unless he opens his heart to Jesus. He could find comfort in the fact that he would see her again one day. Instead, he dulls his pain with alcohol. He justifies himself by finding fault with all those around him. He exists but will he ever truly live?
My prayer is always that somehow his hardened heart will change, that the Holy Spirit will reach out and touch him so that he believes. He is, after all, a good man.
So many lost souls are "taking their chances." So many good people refuse to open their hearts to a gift we don't deserve and can never repay. All we can do is witness to them and pray for God to hold on tight because He loves them just as much as He loves believers. It is His hope that all will one day believe and accept His gift of salvation and eternal life.
We are given a choice. It is a choice that seems so easy and natural to some of us. Why, then, do good people sometimes have so much trouble accepting His gift?
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