HEY LOOK, I THINK I’VE GOT A GREAT FIRE INSURANCE PLAN, OR DO I?

There’s something that just started bothering me lately. I’ve heard it all my life but it started becoming much of a bother after I had this really great encounter with the Holy Spirit. The encounter so changed my life that all I wanted to do was to love God, bask in His love and presence, please Him, and enjoy eternal life right here on earth. 

So, when I hear people make statements like “please, don’t let me sin, I want to make heaven”; or “I will just forgive that girl because of God. I don’t want to go to hell because of any stupid person”… Haha… that’s funny. If you’re forgiving her because you don’t want to go to hell, don’t you think calling her stupid may get you right down there?

People have gotten the message of Christ completely twisted. Jesus preached bringing the Kingdom of Heaven down on earth, and His sole aim of coming was to reconcile us back to God; not after we get to heaven, but right from here on earth. That’s why Jesus came. While reconciliation with God will save us from eternal damnation in hell, avoiding hell was not the main message of Jesus’ gospel. 

God desires a love relationship with you. He loves you sooooo much and He wants you to let Him love you. He wants you to yield to Him, allowing Him to work in and through you. He wants you to do greater works than Jesus did here on earth. He wants to talk with you, reveal things to you through His word and through His Holy Spirit living inside of you. He has not given you a spirit of fear – not even of hell fire; but He has given you a spirit of love, of power and of a sound mind. If all your salvation means to you is a way of escape from hell, then you cannot give God pleasure, meaning you cannot fulfill your purpose for being created, according to Revelation 4:11. And if you can’t give God pleasure, it means you don’t have faith in Him (Hebrews 11:6). So really, you’ll find out that being afraid of hell and doing “all YOU can” to avoid hell may just be what will get you in there. From my Bible, I learn that the finished work of salvation requires that you believe that God has indeed saved you from your sin, and you allow Him to work in and through you while here on earth. It requires absolute faith and trust in Him (in His work through Jesus’ sacrifice).

I’ve been reading a lot about old time reformers – John Wycliffe, John Hus, Martin Luther, etc., and while I read about these great men, all that keeps running through my mind is “what would have made these men leave everything they knew and had, and oppose such formidable forces in their times solely for the sake of Christ?”

I mean if salvation is such a great fire insurance plan as some deem it to be, it should have kept John Hus from being burned on earth because He proclaimed Christ; and should have kept John Wycliffe’s bones from being exhumed and burned long after he was dead. If it is such a great fire insurance plan, it should be able to keep some of your works from being burned, according to 1^st Corinthians 3:15.

In church this Sunday, the prayer leader asked us to pray this way: “Father, give me the grace to run this race; I don’t want to go to hell fire.” While this is not entirely a bad prayer, I consider it a very shallow request. There are other reasons the Bible gives for running this Christian race well, none of which states running away from hell as a reason. 

Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to set aside every weight that easily besets us and RUN with patience the race that is set before us LOOKING UNTO JESUS the author and finisher of our faith. 1^st Corinthians 9:24-25 says we should run TO obtain an incorruptible crown. 

So a more appropriate request may sound something like this: “Father, give me the grace to run this race to the end that I may spend eternity with you.” OR “Father, give me the grace to run this race and never take my eyes off you while I run” OR “Father, give me the grace to run this race and enjoy a great relationship with you while I’m still here on earth” OR “Father, give me the grace to run this race, and take as many people as I can along with me, until we get to the finish line”.

Yes, your salvation will keep you from eternal damnation in hell fire. But…

SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT God wants a love relationship with you. He wants you to enjoy eternal life right from here. The “life abundantly” that Jesus talked about in John 10:10 starts NOW.

So rather than fear hell, embrace eternal life which Christ gave to you. Let His Spirit live and work in and through you, so that you will always do His will. Find out where He is working, submit to Him, join Him in His work, and do what He asks you to do. Trust me, you’ll be on a great, enjoyable journey to heaven, even hell will know that it has lost you completely and forever to God. 

Focus on Jesus. Look unto Him. He is the Author AND Finisher of your faith. He has completed it for you. Just find rest in Him and live. Really LIVE!!!