He that believes on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  – John 3:18

So yesterday someone comes up to me and says this, “I’ve been unable to sleep lately because I’ve been thinking about God.  I don’t really understand about heaven or hell.  It makes the most sense to me that we just cease to exist when we die.  You seem like you know something about God, what can you tell me?”

Before reading on, if you claim to be a Christian, really contemplate what you would say.  Think about this all day, maybe even all week. What will you say if and when this opportunity arises?

We are all broken and messed up.  We all do wrong.  Everybody sins.  Christians believe it is because of what happened in the Garden of Eden.  God made us perfectly and in perfect relationship with Him.  When the forbidden fruit was eaten, two major things happened.  We spiritually died, which means communication with God was cut off. Also, we now physically die.  We don’t know how, and we don’t know when, but death is coming.  The person I was speaking to did know a little about Adam, Eve, and the serpent, but did not realize what a big deal it was.

Since we messed things up, and now are all messed up, God promised to make a way for the curse to be reversed.  In the middle of human history, Jesus came and lived, died, and rose again on the third day.  When you write the date and it says 2018, 2018 years since what?  The person said they didn’t know.  I said 2018 years since Jesus came to this planet. Everything before that is knows as Before Christ.  Jesus is a big, big deal.  The person was pretty blown away at this.

Now, all I can tell you is how this worked for me.  When I was 16 years old, I invited Jesus into my heart and life.  I asked Him to forgive me of my sins and make me into what He wants me to be.  It wasn’t like a magic wand or anything that changed me, but I do remember feeling really clean and like the reset button had been pushed in a video game, or something like that.  Over time, God convicted me of certain things.  I was no longer happy doing the sinful things I did.  Over the last 26 years He has changed me and is still changing me.  I served Him at first because I thought I had to in order to not go to hell.  But now, I serve Him because He is really good, knows what is best for me, my life, and I love Him.

The persons simply said, “That’s a lot to take in.”

I said, “It is.”

I also said, “If you ever want God to do for you what He did for me that day, I’m always here for you. I don’t believe we are talking about this by chance.  He loves you. I will be glad to get you started in the process.”

I did my best.

Lord, I pray for this person and many people that must feel the same way.  They don’t understand what Christianity and salvation is all about.  Save my friend.  Allow me the privilege of leading this soul, and many more, into your kingdom.

Adam