Tag Archives: Life

Do You Want to Live Forever? Exploring God’s Eternalness

What Is Eternal Life and Where Does It Come From?

Like time, man has a beginning and end. In his short life, he is born, breeds and dies. And, as we all know, man grieves over this tragedy:

Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.

And on the other end of the spectrum, there is eternity.

My buddy , “Eternity is a life of the most perfect kind without beginning, succession or end. . .a never-changing now.”

Yet, you and I are slaves to time. That is, you and I can choose to keep our bodies in the same spot as long as we want. What we can’t do is choose to remain in a particular spot of time for as long as we want.

Time unmercifully drives on.

Why the Idea of Eternity Is Essential to Christianity

that “The concept of everlastingness runs like a lofty mountain range through the entire Bible and looms large in orthodox Hebrew and Christian thought.”

For example:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

The first thing you notice in these Bible verses is that since time begins with the universe…God is before time.

And if God is before time, then other things about God must be necessarily true. Namely. . .

How Does Philosophy Support God’s Eternality?

Listen, if God wasn’t eternal, then these things wouldn’t make sense:

Immutability: Whatever is in time changes. God is not in time. Therefore, God does not change.

Perfection: Because God is changeless, he cannot change for the worse, and does not need to change for the better. He exists completely.

Infinity: Whatever is in time has limits. If God is outside of time, then He does not have limits.

: If His existence is critical to the universe’s existence, then He must have existed before the universe.

Self-Existence: If God created the universe–which is made up of time and matter–then he had to exist before the universe.

So, since God is immutable, perfect, infinite, necessary and self existant, God created time. And if He created time, God is different and independent of time.

But, so what?

How Should We Respond to God’s Eternity?

Materialists tell us that each human life–yours and mine– is the smallest nothing compared to the infinite emptiness of the universe.

So. . .what’s the point of life. . .really? Well, in the face of God’s eternity, we should be:

1. Confident that His word will stand.

2. Assured that His promises will never be broken.

3. Rooted in the hope of Christ.

4. Vulnerable because we have the promise that God can help us.

5. Certain that he can give us eternal life. He can alleviate the fear of death.

Jesus Christ abolished death through his resurrection. The Book of Romans sheds light on this: He has brought life and immortality to you and I.

So, through all of life, God is an anchor to our soul. That means He is the one safe home for you and I–his tragic time-struck children.

That is if you want to live for ever. For every man it must be Christ or eternal tragedy.

Your Turn

Where you at on this issue of living forever. . .do you want to? Do you think it’s a crock? Are you afraid of death? Does God’s eternity–and Christ’s resurrection–bring you comfort?

Give me your thoughts. Brutal and all.

**Part of The Nature of God: A Quick and Dirty Guide series.**

The John MacArthur Guide to Finding Your Purpose in Life

The First Crucial Step to Finding God’s Will

If your life is at a dead stop with no future, it might help you to know that your first problem is probably sin. Unrepentant sin, to be exact.

Listen, God owes you nothing if you neglect this first, biblical step: salvation. Until you surrender yourself to Christ and the cross, God’s not obligated to show you his plan for your life.

Get right with God now and move on to the next step of finding His will.

Short Theology Lesson on the Spirit-filled Life

Your next step to finding God’s will for your life is to be spirit filled.

What does it mean to be spirit-filled? It means to live a Christ-conscious life.

What does that mean? Think about Peter. When Peter was near Christ he possessed , and . Away from Christ, he slumped into self-pity and denial.

But after Christ ascended and the spirit fell on Peter, we catch him in the book of Acts –despite persecution.

What happened? Spirit filled is akin to standing next to Jesus.

So…how do you get there? Easy. Know your Bible. MacArthur recommends reading everyday for 30 days. Then move onto chapters 1-5 in the book of John for the next 30. Chapters 6-10 the following 30 days. And so on through the New Testament.

There are no shortcuts. Just serious, planned neglect of everything else except God and your Bible.

Abstain from the Unclean

One of the great things about Christianity is that it lifts you out of the gutter. In the span of ten years I went from a single drug addict living in a friend’s basement to a writer living with a wife and two children in a quaint home.

[Read the full story.]

God’s calling–God’s will–is that we be sanctified, holy, pure. That means subdue your body. Avoid sex before marriage. Stop the abuse of drugs and alcohol. Abstain from pornography. Treat others fairly.

You are God’s holy instrument. Keep it clean.

Submission Silences the Critics

What is it that God wills you to do next? Submit.

Submit to the President, boss, teacher, cop, mother. When you are the model Christian citizen, you silence the critics:

For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

However, God does give you permission to rebel on two conditions: You may rebel against authority when you are asked to do something against God or forbidden to do something God commands.

The Truth Behind Christian Suffering

We all want to be great. But in the will of God, greatness often follows behind suffering.

. And by definition, true Christian suffering means persecution for doing what is right–not punishment for doing wrong.

To be in God’s will means to stand in the face of the world and lay down the hard truth of the Gospel. Don’t fear to offend. Throw caution out the window. Insults and threats may fly, but God will give you unimaginable excitement. And you’ll please him.

The Final, Surprising Principle

So, once you are saved, spirit-filled, sanctified, submissive and suffering, what do you do next?

Whatever you want.

Yep, . You may have a heart for child soldiers in Uganda or prostitutes in India or your next door neighbors. It doesn’t matter what it is. Just get moving. And keep moving. God has the best ministries for his busiest saints.

Conclusion

So, whether a gonzo style street speaker is your style or a subdued academic writer–have the courage and good sense to be safely in God’s will. If you don’t follow these six principles you’ll never find your true, God-given purpose in life.

And if you don’t have purpose or meaning in life, what’s the point? Let me know what you think.

My Salvation Story

2 Replies

Most people’s testimony starts with a date. Possibly a time. Likely a location. Sometimes a person. Mine starts in much the same way.

Late November of 1996, in , my aunt led me to the Lord. Quite dramatically my life changed.

I stopped drinking, sleeping around and started going to church. I eventually met my wife, got a job, created children, bought a home and spent a lot of time at church: whether in worship, teaching Sunday school or acting in church-sponsored dramas.

I was what you might call a typical Christian. But something was wrong. Very wrong.

Destroying My Family

Throughout the first ten years of my so called Christian walk, I obsessed about one thing–and one thing only.

Becoming a world famous writer.

Much to the disappointment of my wife, this ambition took first place to everything else–my marriage, children, work and even church.

To give you an example of what this drive did to me, I quite often found myself thinking that I would have to sacrifice my children for this ambition–and that it was quite natural to do that. That this was a necessary part of becoming a world famous writer–neglect your wife and children for the sake of art.

Naturally I thought and worried about the tragedy my children would grow up to be if this came true–but I’d have to live with that. It’s the price I’d have to pay to become that world class writer.

As I said, I was driven, single-mindedly, by one thing. And it wasn’t Christ.

Woefully Detached and Rebellious

But that didn’t concern me. Should have. Just like the “check engine” light in your car, it was a warning that something was off. A warning that I wasn’t the person I said I was.

But I didn’t care.

Yes, I prayed the sinners prayer. Made a decision to accept Christ. Believed he died for my sins–even to the point that I agreed that I was a sinner and that confessing Christ as my Savior would get me a ticket into heaven.

Don’t get me wrong–my mind bought into everything. But my heart was woefully detached and rebellious. I was, in a word, not a true Christian.

How do I know this? On November 30, 2007, I got my clock cleaned in an awful way.

The Day My World Collapsed

November 30, 2007, is the date that my wife discovered–quite innocently–that I had been unfaithful to her. Not physically, but emotionally.

Her world fell apart. As well as mine. In the heat of that day she said she wanted a divorce. I collapsed, overwhelmed by the reality of what was happening.

My father’s marriage ended in divorce. His father’s first marriage ended in divorce. As a product of a divorce–I vowed never to divorce.

But something so stupid, so silly as flirting with a woman who wasn’t my wife, was about to pull my world out from under me.

What It Really Means to Be a Christian

On that day I begged my wife for mercy and in that begging I promised to give up everything that didn’t contribute to our marriage. Among other things, that meant I had to:

Abandon my membership in the local writer’s guild.

End dozens of relationships with secular writers.

Quit a publication that I helped start and even ran.

Lay down my ambition to become a world-famous writer.

Naturally, I wallowed in a pit of anxiety as I struggled to find out who I really was.

Only gradually, over time, did it dawn on me that this is exactly what Christ meant when , “If you want to follow me, deny yourself and take up your cross, and come after me.”

What I was experiencing was the very renunciation of life that is required to become a biblical Christian. But the most startling realization came in the months following November 30.

11 Biblical Tests of Genuine Salvation

During that time after November 30 while I read the Bible, listened to , and and learned the basics of Christianity, I realized that for the last ten years I’d been deceived in thinking that I was a Christian.

How do I know I was deceived?

In the ten years that I thought I was a Christian, eleven things could be said about me–eleven things 1 John identifies as the difference between a true and false Christian:

1. Rarely, if ever, during that ten years, did I experience a .

2. I was insensitive to sin in my life. I managed to look quite pious and Christian on the outside while and unrighteousness on the inside.

3. Rarely, if ever, did I obey God’s commands. anyone who calls himself a Christian but habitually disobeys God is a liar.

4. Rather than rejecting it, I . This evil world held the trophy I wanted–a reputation for being a world class writer.

5. I didn’t despise the sin in my flesh or long for Jesus’ return. In fact, I despised and even doubted Jesus’ return.

6. Sin did not decrease in my life, but continued and in some occasions even increased. The is of the devil.

7. I hated fellowship with Christians. They annoyed me, irritated me. Anyone who is a murderer.

8. I rarely experienced answered prayer. Why? I hardly prayed…I didn’t know what to pray for…and when I did pray, it usually involved half-hearted, unbiblical, self-centered requests. A sure formula for failure when praying.

9. For most of the fruits of the Holy Spirit , I could say I lacked. For the rest, they were grossly underdeveloped.

10. Didn’t know the difference between spiritual truth and error. I sorely missed the skill of separating divine truth from error.

11. And lastly, I rarely . Frankly, I was ashamed of being a Christian, all to win man’s approval.

In summary, the trajectory of my Christian life during those ten years resembled a sinking line drive.

What My Life Looks Like Now

Naturally, you’re probably wondering how I’m fairing this side of November 30, 2007. Right?

Well, let me say this: there’s a gargantuan difference in my life.

I crave alone time with God. Get up at 4:30 in the morning to read my Bible. And think about and talk with God constantly throughout the day.

Not that I don’t ever sin–but now when I do sin, I’m horrified.

My heartbeat is to obey God. To gear my life around his Word and His work. I don’t always do what He says, but when I don’t do it, I can hardly sleep at night.

I hate the evil in this world. And when I am tempted, like I often am, I grieve over that temptation.

My heart burns for the return of my Lord.

The sin in my life has taken a nose dive. And I’m more aware of the smaller sins that I typically brushed off as inconsequential.

I love the great Christian men in my life. I long to be with them. To study with them. To witness with them. And I despair over my weaker brothers.

I’ve got a better eye for what God wants me to pray for. And I’ve got a passion to pray for other people. Something you would’ve never seen two years ago.

My Bible study is expanding and I’m making inroads with people when sharing my faith that where never there before. Made possible by the Holy Spirit.

I’m acutely aware of spiritual error–in myself and others.

And finally–from flat-out rejection to more subtle accusations of stupidity–I’m suffering for Christ.

Let me close with this–anytime someone tells me they are a Christian, I’m skeptical. Especially if they base their confidence in salvation on a date and a decision.

So let me challenge you with this: examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith–. And if you pass these tests, 1 John 5:13 says, “you may know that you have eternal life.”

Listen. There’s no reason for you to spend your spiritual experience deluded or in the dumps. Yet thousands of Christians do.

Please, don’t be one of them.

Disclaimer: Deeply indebted to John MacArthur’s tiny book for the eleven biblical tests of true salvation.

**Part of the Curmudgeon’s Guide to Sharing Your Faith series.**

How to Become a Christian [in 1,000 Words or Less]

Our Problem: Separation from God

You and I both do things that we know are wrong. That’s what means: sinning with knowledge.

But you say, “I’m a pretty good person. I’m not as bad as the guy down the street who drinks whiskey and beats his wife.”

You wanna bet?

More than likely, on any given day, you are guilty of blaspheme, lust, murder, lying and stealing. [Don’t believe me? Take this quiz to find out.]

No wonder you feel estranged from God—He’s holy and good. You and I, on the other hand, are not.

But your sinful acts have alienated you from God; your sins have caused him to reject you and not to listen to your prayers.

And you were dead in your tresspasses and sins.

So, whether you break one or all of God’s laws, you are guilty of sin. And it doesn’t matter if you stole a pencil from work or slit a toddlers throat: God punishes all sin.

What Happens If You Sin

Just as criminals must pay the penalty for their crimes, sinners must pay the penalty for their sins.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you continue to sin, in the end, you will stand before the Judgment seat of God and He will declare you guilty. Your punishment? Spiritual death.

Spiritual death separates you from God. This is called hell, a physical place where unforgiven sinners experience physical torment. For eternity.

Now, does it concern you that you’ve sinned against God? It should.

You’ve actually angered God by your sin. The Bible says that and that you are an enemy of God. What can you do about it?

Futility of Our Works

You might think you can do enough good deeds to outweigh your bad deeds. Or lead a good life and God will then play nice with you.

This attitude is called “works by salvation.” And it’s unbiblical.

The Bible teaches no amount of human goodness or human works can get you on the good side of God.

For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not of works, so that no one can boast.

Salvation Is a Free Gift

Imagine one morning you were arrested for torturing dogs, maiming them, even killing them. You were a respectable, clean fellow, yes, but you just couldn’t stand dogs.

In court, the judge finds you guilty. He sentences you to 17 years in prison. Without parole. You weep. But just before you are ushered out of the court room by the guard, a stranger walks through the door.

Everyone stops.

The stranger takes off your handcuffs and puts them on his hands. He announces to the judge, “I’m going in his place.”

You watch dumbfounded as the guard carts the stranger away.

What just happened? The stranger just paid your penalty and his sacrifice was a demonstration of his love for you.

Jesus did the same thing for you and your sins over 2,100 years ago.

Christ Has Paid Your Penalty

The Bible says that Christ loved you enough to die for you–even when you were rebelling against Him.

But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is the good news of the Bible: God gave His own Son to become a man, live a sinless life and die on the cross to satisfy the penalty for our sins.

Moreover, to prove that Jesus was in fact God-man and that His death in fact meant substitution for your sins, God raised Jesus from the dead.

Why did He do this?

God does not want you to perish. In fact, He’s provided a way for you to be forgiven.

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.

Right now, God invites you to come to Him for a full pardon.

How Do You Receive This Free Gift?

The Bible teaches that all you have to do is follow His command to accept this free gift:

Repent…that your sins may be wiped out and times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

If you will confess and forsake your sins and trust in Jesus Christ, God will forgive you and you’ll pass from death to life.

It’s a free gift. And it’s your choice: you can either accept or reject this free gift. What do you want to do?

What Does It Mean to Put Your Faith in Jesus Christ?

It means to trust in Jesus the same you’d trust in a lifeboat cast on a raging sea.

Today, with all your heart, surrender your life to Jesus Christ. Confess your sins. Ask God to forgive you. Say that you’ll trust in Jesus. And thank Him for the gift of everlasting life.

Pray now. There is nothing magical about the words you use. It is the attitude of your heart that God cares about.

And don’t put this off. You could die the instant you turn away from this screen.

If you are making this commitment to Christ today, please let me know. I want to hear from you.