The devil makes everything terribly complicated and confusing. With God, on the other hand, everything is easy, straightforward and clear. For some, it seems too easy to be true. But it is not too easy to believe it.
No rational person wants to spend all eternity in the agony of hell.
- The person, of whom Jesus speaks in Luke 16, suffers great agony (verse 23). So it’s clearly not symbolic, but real agony and anguish that people in hell suffer.
- The person in hell can see. So they have eyes (verse 23).
- The person in hell has a voice, because he can call out (verse 24).
- The person in hell has a tongue, because in the description that Jesus gives, the person is asking that someone would cool off his tongue with some water (verse 24), because he is “in agony in this fire”.
- The person in hell has ears, because he can hear other people talking (verse 25).
But how can we get saved? What do we have to do to obtain eternal salvation?
The answer: Nothing.
We also can’t do anything to impress God (who is perfectly pure, righteous and holy). Just one stolen candy bar at the grocery store… just one perverted thought… just one envious thought about someone else… just one time of gossiping… and we cannot be blameless before God on our own.
What is love?
So is eternal hell inevitable? No, God does not want that for us. God is holy, pure and perfect, and God is also love. Not the kind of “love” we’ve come to know here on earth of “if you do this or that, then I will love you.” But perfect, unconditional love that we did not earn and never can do anything to earn.
We just receive this love. Full of gratefulness.
How can I come before Jesus?
Just as you are, you can come before Jesus. With all our lies, hate, fear, all the terrible things we’ve done that have amassed over the years and carry with us every day. With our perversions, our addictions, our brokenness – just as we are, we come before Jesus.
We don’t have to straighten anything out first. We don’t have to fix something or make up for something. We don’t have to become a better person to come before Jesus.
Just as we are. Broken, afraid, perverted, addicted, unsure, confused. With everything that weighs us down, we come before Jesus. We can lay everything at His feet. We can give it all to Him – all of it. There is nothing that is too big or too small, too broken, too perverted, that Jesus can’t immediately take upon Himself and take the weight off our shoulders. With Jesus, everything is possible.
Jesus became human and came to this world, to save people like you and me. Jesus did not come to the perfect, not to the healthy, not to the holy. Jesus came to us, who from morning until evening have unholy thoughts. Jesus came to us, who go to bed with perverted fantasies at night. Jesus came to us, who see no way out.
I CAN’T DO IT ANYMORE! we can cry. I can’t do it anymore!
I know, Jesus says, I know. That’s why I came – to save you and to help you.
And that’s how you get saved for all eternity
Kneel down. The burden of all the fear, the worries, the perversions, the viciousness, is so heavy on our shoulders anyways.
Kneel down and speak in your own words:
Oh Jesus, please help me! I need You.
I am sorry for everything I’ve done.
Free me from all of my sins.
Help me out of my distress.
Take all of the things I’ve done and free me!
Wash me clean with Your holy blood, which you shed on the cross for me.
Jesus, I call You into my life. Come and lead me! Be my Lord!
I thank you, my Jesus!
And now? If you prayed the above prayer with a sincere heart and earnestly asked Jesus to save you, then you are saved! That easy? Yes, that easy and undeserved. But we are saved! For all of eternity. No hell, but complete confidence that we are sons and daughters of God from this very moment. Saved forever.
Does that mean we won’t sin anymore? No. We will still sin. Does that mean we won’t have any problems anymore? No, we will still have problems.
But with a huge different than before: God is with us. Jesus is always by our side.
He sent His Holy Spirit to us. We will be lead on the path that God has for us.
What can we do?
We can talk to Jesus about everything – and I mean everything. We can ask Him for wisdom for every small or big problem. That’s what we call “daily prayer.”
And: Develop our personal relationship with Jesus and God. Why? The better we know God and His plan for us, the more we live in His protection and His beneficial guidance. Where do we learn more about God? Where do we learn what God wants to give us? In His word, the Bible.
Absorb God’s word. Wash yourself in God’s word. Strengthen yourself with God’s word.
And congratulations! You are saved. Saved forever and always! You didn’t earn it. Just like I didn’t earn it. And just like nobody in this world earned it. We are saved because God and Jesus love us so much and said, “Hey, come here, when you’re exhausted and burdened! Come here, you don’t have to suffer anymore, you don’t have to keep being broken, you’re supposed to be free, and have life abundantly for all eternity!”