The Second Death

They say there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes. Well, that’s really only half correct. Not everyone in the world pays taxes but everyone in the world is guaranteed to die, or at least until the book of Revelation is completely revealed. So, it’s best to prepare for the inevitable. We prepare for our kid’s college. We prepare to pay our bills. We prepare for retirement. Why don’t all of us spend as much time planning for our eternal lives? Whether you believe it or not, everyone will experience a Heaven and a hell. None of us are completely immune to either side of the equation; it’s just a matter of the severity of each we’ll experience. Here’s what I mean.

Think about the absolutely best part of your life. Is it a big bank account? Is it the perfect home? Is it the new car? Is it a wonderful family and friends? Is it your dream job? Whatever it is, if you’re a Christian, it is part of your personal hell. Yes, anything we encounter here on earth is incomparable with the joy, harmony, and bliss we will share in the perfect loving environment of our God’s Heavenly home.

Now, think about the worst things in your life. Losing a family member or friend. Losing a job. Being physically handicapped. Being homeless. Being alone. Being sick. Whatever they are, if you are not a Christian, then they are part of your personal Heaven. Yes, anything a non-Christian encounters here on earth is incomparable with the misery, pain and suffering those who deny Jesus Christ as their personal savior will face in the torture chamber of Satan’s domain.

As residents of earth we naturally fear death, at least to a certain degree. Most non-Christians completely fear the death of the physical body for varying reasons. The thought of the unknown to them is rightfully scary. Many of us Christians don’t fear death, and we shouldn’t, but many of us may fear dying too early or the effects our death will have on those who are left behind. In reality, not many of us are really looking forward to the death of our physical bodies and leaving behind our family and friends. It’s not a red-letter date on anyone’s calendar.

The second death, though, should be feared by every single person walking the earth. For many Christians, the fear of going to hell was a motivation to begin their walk with Jesus in the first place. After all, it was motivation for me! That’s okay as long as it doesn’t remain the sole reason for accepting God’s gift of salvation. Many non-believers also fear going to hell yet they refuse to do the one simple thing to avoid the eternal damnation and that is accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior. As servants of God, being a guide on the path to salvation is our ultimate responsibility.

The second death is eternal. It’s a lot longer than the 80 or so years we might get to spend in our personal hell or heaven on earth. Eternity is that timeless place where our souls will reside upon the death of our physical bodies. Dictionary.com defines eternity as, “infinite time; duration without beginning or end.” There will actually be a beginning to our eternal lives so it’s that “without end” part that is really scary. It’s not the worst prison you can imagine. It’s not the worst prisoner of war camp that you can imagine. It’s not the worst year, or decade, you’ve through which you’ve ever suffered. Those end, even if they end in physical death. The spiritual death doesn’t ever end! It’s like God himself, who was, is, and ever will be. It’s like the universe that has no end. One day in eternity is like 1,000 years down here on earth. It’s an incomprehensible amount of time!

How bad is the spiritual death? In his parable about watchfulness, Jesus says this in Luke 12:46, “The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.” We don’t know when we will die so it’s best to be prepared for our eternity every single second of every single day. If our eternal life depended solely on what we are doing at the second we die, will many of us avoid hell? Am I serving God to my fullest in anticipation of his return or in anticipation of standing before him in judgment? How will I explain what I was doing when I stand before him in judgment? Or, will I be serving myself and have a really lame explanation?

“That servant” Jesus speaks of in this parable has mistreated others and gotten drunk, among other things. He probably had a lame explanation of his actions when his master (God) returned. I’ve had bouts of fainting when I’ve cut myself so this particular scripture conjures up some really vivid and painful images and Jesus really didn’t sugar-coat his words to make hell at all sound the slightest bit enjoyable. When we think of horrible ways to die, many of them may involve cutting bodies into pieces. Think about it. Edgar Allan Poe wrote about it in one of his most terrifying horror novels. Freddy Krueger did it in many horror films. Ancient civilizations used to do it as capital punishment in order to deter future crimes.

Now, think about this: That’s just the beginning of the second death!

–Rob Denbo

LET OTHERS SEE GOD IN YOU

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” –Matthew 5:16 (NIV)

     Jerry was a co-worker of mine at the French Lick Casino. He had one of those jobs no one else really ever lines up to do. He was an attendant in our employee dining room. Even though our food was free to all employees at the time, I’m sure half of what Jerry heard was complaints about the quality and selection of food and requests and demands to replenish this or that. To add to that, he usually worked a late swing shift or graveyard shift.

I usually tried to make Jerry’s life easier by doing as much of my own attending as possible in our EDR. I’m sure I didn’t always do the right thing but I sympathize with all of our EDR staff and I usually try to pass on some kind of compliment. Our attendants, by and large, do a lot more real work than me and they deserve pats on the back. Compliments are highly combustible and I try to disperse them often and Jerry always appreciated anyone’s attempts to notice his efforts. As a result, Jerry would sit with me a lot of times during my 30-minute meal break and chat with on a variety of things.

I have no idea of Jerry’s spirituality and that’s my fault. I should have been more pro-active in finding out before his employment ended. I hid behind potential human resources issues involving religion in the workplace. However, one particular night Jerry broke the ice. After I sat down with my food, he plopped into the chair across the table from me. He got right down to the heart of his matter. (It is amazing how people unfamiliar with or curious about our faith have no problem asking us about God but we often avoid the subject at nearly all costs.) Jerry said to me, “Rob, I see God in you…” and I pretty much had no idea what he said for the 10 seconds or so. I was in shock. I was astounded. I was amazed. I was completely honored he “saw” that.

Jerry telling me that was the next best thing to hearing my daughters tell me for the first time that they loved me. As I wiped away the tears from my eyes I came to find out that he wanted to ask some Bible questions (it just kept getting better). In addition to his questions that night, Jerry periodically asked me more questions about the Bible and I got great opportunities to witness to someone who stood right in front of me just about every day.

It’s amazing where God opens doors, even in the back of the house of a casino!

He opens them even when we don’t realize there was even a doorway in front of us. Jerry completely floored me that particular night and I was on top of the world after the opportunity to share my God with him. Sharing God is the ultimate high. Jerry also made me realize that God always places us in venues to reach lost souls. I can only hope that my conversations with Jerry had a positive impact on his spiritual life. I may never know but I sometimes wonder if I did all I could to witness to him. I always offered to talk to him at any time about spiritual matters so I hope the seed I planted has produced fruit wherever he is now. I have faith God watered the seed.

Jason, a good friend and accountability partner of mine, in our weekly small group studies (which we refer to as our connections group) uses the catchy phrase “populate Heaven.” I latched on to it and have tried to live my life as Jesus says in Matthew 5:16 in hopes of inspiring people like Jerry to do the same. I’ve thought this has served me, and in turn God, well most of the past five years or so but it’s only half of our Christian calling. I don’t write these testimonials to make me appear righteous because I’m still far from that.

I write these to point out that even though Jerry really inflated my ego and it was one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received, hoping others see God in me is now no longer enough for me in my Christian walk. I don’t want to take a chance that the only way I’m going to lead others to the saving grace of Jesus Christ is by hoping that the people in my life see what God is doing in me. Unfortunately, I’m not always like a Motel 6. I don’t always leave my light on and, in fact, my light is way too, way too often. I worry that the beacon I’m shining into the darkness too often might be a lighthouse to the wrong side of eternity.

I’m afraid I’ve stood by too many times while other people have went to hell.

–Rob Denbo

WHAT THIS WORLD NEEDS…IS THE BODY

I love the band Casting Crowns. When I first heard them I was a fan, but not a huge fan. I preferred praise music and while the Crowns sing a lot of praise music, they also hit me hard with challenging song lyrics I wasn’t really ready for at the time. My wife got us to a live Crowns concert in 2008 and my impression of the band changed forever. The concert inspired me. The other people at the concert inspired me. The members of the band inspired me. Most importantly, the songs started speaking to me. Loudly. So loudly, in fact, I cried for a few miles as I drove away from the arena. I’ve seen them twice since then and each time the worship service is equally as compelling. I raise my hands. I sing like I never sing in any other venue. My spirits go to another world!

I write this because the words lead singer Mark Hall and the band write have been a wonderful supplement to scripture in my new-found conviction.

This conviction pretty much overwhelmed my life in the summer of 2011 while I was driving to formations for a Walk to Emmaus. I was supposed to give a witness talk and considering what I would say when the song “What This World Needs” by Casting Crowns came over my CD player. God always has perfect timing, remember that! In the song is the line, “What this world needs is for us to stop hiding behind our relevance. Blending in so well that people can’t see the difference and it’s the difference that sets the world free.” Based on that single line, I began jotting down notes for the witness talk in the parking lot. I committed myself to stop blending in so well and showing the world “The Difference” that sets every single one of us free! I mean, could anyone really pick me out as the lone Christian in the crowd? Has anything I’ve done in the name of the Holy Spirit set anyone free the chains that bond them?

It turns out that the Lord took my tongue in a different direction for the talk that night but he didn’t let me heart off the hook. 1 Corinthians 12:27 reads, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” I’ve heard that scripture my entire life but I’ve never taken it seriously and I don’t know if I do as of yet. I mean, really think about that. Jesus descended to Heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell in us. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we give control of our bodies to the Holy Spirit. He needs hands and feet. He needs eyes and ears. He needs a voice. He needs us to accomplish God’s work in this world. My heart really isn’t worthy, but is my outward appearance “what this world needs?”

My church where the Emmaus formations were is about a 35 minute drive from home and anytime God has me alone in a car, he chips away me. On this particular night, that 35-minute drive was an intense roller coaster of emotions. On the way home from those formations that night another Casting Crowns song from another CD, “If We Are the Body” played on my player and it drove me to sobbing. I told you the Crowns were one of those artists who really, really moves me. There are lyrics in that song that drive a stake through my heart: “If we are the body, why aren’t his arms reaching? Why aren’t his hands healing?…Why is his love not showing them there is a way?”

Why?

There is a way! So, just why aren’t my arms reaching? Why aren’t my hands healing? Why aren’t I showing anyone The Way? As I write all this, I might as well be looking in a mirror. Why aren’t I? God didn’t save me from hell to sit on the sidelines and watch others parade away to eternal damnation. He saved me to “(fight) the good fight…(finish) the race…keep the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7 present tense paraphrased by me). Have I done any of this to my fullest? Not even close. My fight has been uninspiring. I’m finishing last in the race. I’m keeping the faith to myself and not sharing it.

I fear hell has been populated more than Heaven by my actions.

–Rob Denbo

My Purpose

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” –1 Peter 2:9-10.

I love Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life. I read it the for the first time about five years ago and it changed my life. It got my life back on track and I’ve read it twice since then as refreshers. If there is anything good in me now, I owe a lot of the transformation to this book. The 40 Days of Purpose study we did with it were equally as effective. Don’t get me wrong, the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible are at the core of my life now and they provide me with my spiritual direction. However, The Purpose Driven Life, was the kick in the pants I needed in order to point my life in the right spiritual direction. If there is anyone who needs spiritual clarification that God knows what he is doing with us down here on Earth, they should read this book.

Unfortunately for me, though, I haven’t always used this new direction properly. Through the book I got clarification of why I need Jesus Christ to get into Heaven. I learned that life is a test and we simply live on Earth in preparation for an eternal life in Heaven. I learned that God can use everything for good if we allow him. Through all that revelation, though, I couldn’t really identify my specific purpose. I even told my 40 Days of Purpose study group my dilemma. Maybe I was looking for something under a microscope when, in fact, my purpose was in plain sight and identified throughout the Bible. It wasn’t until Frances Chan turned my spiritual life upside-down in his books Crazy Love and Forgotten God during 2011 that I finally figured out my purpose, our purpose.

My purpose as a Christian is to serve as disciples.

It’s plain and simple but we’ve covered that already. If ”the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28) then so should I. I can’t serve without love, but I’ve covered that already too.  I have to love enough to care about people’s souls, but I covered that as well. I am not to simply save my own soul. That was covered. I have to train disciples to save more souls.

I have to give my life to the discipleship process because it’s the most effective way to save souls and populate Heaven. Now, while Jesus did say I have to carry my cross daily, I don’t believe that he will require all of us to give our lives as a ransom for many the way he did even though some may. But, if Rick Warren was right in his book, I have to give my Earthly life to take as many souls to Heaven as possible. In reality, I have such a very short time here on Earth and there are billions of people out there using their precious time on the fast track to Hell.

We have to sell out our lives daily because we are the priesthood of all believers. Jesus is the high priest of the church. As the highest priest, he ordained all of his followers as priests. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a priest is “a mediatory agent between humans and God.” Our priesthood, our purpose, is to be God’s agent to the world. Merriam-Webster defines agent as “one who is authorized to act for or in the place of another.” The great thing about this is that Jesus gave us the ultimate authority to be his agent, the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, we have the power to evangelize the world and that is every Christian’s role here on Earth.

Peter declares our calling. We’re chosen directly by God. We are royalty in his eyes. We are deemed holy by the Holy of Holies! We’re honored by God in order to do one thing and that is to sing God’s praises! John speaks in the book of Revelation of four beings fixed around the throne of  God in Heaven who never stop saying, “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’” (Revelation 4:8). Again, if  Rick Warren was right and life on Earth is simply preparation for our lives in eternity, then we need to start real practicing. The only difference is that our “practice” praising here on Earth will be seen by non-believers and can lead them to the same eternal life we aspire.

Now, obviously, we can’t carry on our other necessary roles here on Earth and continually praise God verbally. We have to eat. We have to sleep. We have to work. Some of our Earthly duties will probably make us long more for the day when we have nothing else to do but praise God because it will be the only necessity of Heaven. Anyway, Peter later gave us a simple outline of how to continually praise God while we toil away here on Earth.

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” –1 Peter 2:12

It’s kind of obvious Matthew and Peter were both original disciples of Jesus. They both emphasize this particular Godly lifestyle. In essence Peter writes that we can, in fact, continually praise God while going about our daily Earthly duties. The most effective way to disciple people is  through our lives. We have to walk our talk. More people will be taught by the way we actually live than by the way we say to live. More people will also unknowingly find themselves in Hell by following our lead if we are not praising God with our lives. Jesus was the most charismatic person to ever walk the Earth. If we have the Holy Spirit guiding our every move, we can be similarly (but to a much lesser degree) as charismatic as Jesus.

So, about my purpose. Mine, as I see it boiled down to the core, is not to populate Hell. I have to live my life so that others want what I’ve got in my should and that is the promise of eternal life in Heaven. I have to be able to get out of my comfort zone and serve God and people in my workplace and wherever I play. I can’t turn away from opportunities God gives me to glorify him. I have to disciple new Christians. I have to do my part to strengthen, counsel and hold accountable my fellow Christians. I also have to be humble enough to accept the same teaching and correction from other Christians in my life. I have to accept being challenged by both non-Christians and Christians alike.

I shall not populate Hell!

–Rob Denbo

 

God Commands, I respond (to Go!)

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” –Acts 1:8

As Kenny Loggins sang, “This is it!”

If you boil down all of the ways we can honor God, love God, love mankind and serve mankind, then witnessing is it. If you want to boil down all the ways we can “go therefore,” baptize and teach others, then witnessing is it. Acts 1:8 is part two of the command Jesus gave in Matthew 28. Caring about where others spend eternity is the ultimate sign of love but if we don’t do anything to inspire people to salvation, it’s all empty love. Witnessing is completely necessary, and urgent, if we want to avoid populating Hell. Saving people from that eternity is a Christian’s No. 1 goal.

If that’s not my No. 1 goal, then I need to really question my Christian faith.

Unfortunately, it has not always been my No. 1 goal and I’m challenged in making it my top goal even now. 1 Peter 2:9-10 reads, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” According to Peter, I am to praise God for calling me out of the dark hole I was in and into a wonderful eternal light. I am to extend the same mercy to other unsaved souls as God extended to my once unsaved soul.

For most of my life, my faith has been all about me, all about saving my soul from Hell. I’ve lived most of my life with a huge ego and it caused me to really only care about my own soul and very little at that. When I was 10 years old, I walked down the aisle at the First Baptist Church in West Baden to save my soul. In that lay two problems. First, I though I was saving my soul. Second, I thought I was saving my soul only. So, for the next 26 years or so, I was happy thinking I was going to Heaven and everyone else could just fend for themselves. Well, looking back, I’m not even sure I was going to Heaven.

I hate to think of how many residents I added to the rolls of Hell during that time.

Now to be fair, somewhere in there it became about making sure my wife’s and daughters’ souls were safe from Hell. A little less-selfish. But, I have a royal priesthood to uphold to all believers. I have a calling straight from God himself that should motivate me. I need to witness to the first person I see every day and then go all the way to the ends of the earth doing so if need be. While I have been witnessing to the first people I see (my family), I haven’t been doing much on my way to the ends of the earth. God has commanded me to do more than what I’m doing now. Because I’m not, I’m really uncomfortable.

What I’m most uncomfortable with is me. Life is still too much about me.

So, to equip me to go, baptize and teach, he has given us all the power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible (not just me). Those two work in conjunction with the message that’s going to inspire people, and that’s our testimony. I believe God allows us to suffer to build our character. He uses that character to build our testimony. He will use that testimony to build our witness. It’s our witness that will inspire people to find God! But, we have to use that witness. While I have not ever been left homeless, been physically impaired or faced multiple tragedies (thank God), I have lost my job and been almost completely turned around spiritually. But, now, I stand in the way of my own witness in another way. I’m hesitant to tell my story.

I worry that the story I tell is too much about me and for my glory. I’ve found that the purest forms of joy in life are serving others, leading them to Jesus and then helping disciple them. I get extreme pleasure in successfully performing these tasks. Now, though, I’m afraid I’m doing this for my own pleasure, which is okay but God’s pleasure and populating Heaven should be my No. 1 goals. While I believe in my heart that I am doing it for God, a part of me still likes hearing people give me credit for my few great acts of service and ministering. Encouragement is necessary but it can’t lead to pride.

As a baseball fan, I have taken a great interest in Josh Hamilton’s story. He is an MVP winning outfielder of the Texas Rangers and a recovering alcoholic and drug abuser. He has a truly awe-inspiring story. In his book, Beyond Belief, Hamilton says, “I have been given a platform to tell my story, I pray every night I am a good messenger.” He indicates that Christians are obligated to tell any testimony God gives them. They are gifts from God. Hamilton made me realize that I actually owe it to God to tell any story that might inspire others to come to Jesus.

God gives us all a platform. Are we using it to populate Heaven or populate Hell?

–Rob Denbo

 

What God Commands: Go!

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” –Matthew 28:19-20

So just what are all the previous commandments of scripture leading up to? The Ten Commandments center around our reverence to God and not doing harm to our fellow man. The love commandment centers around loving and serving our fellow man. Well, is there any better way to please God, do humankind well, love them and serve them than to lead them to God’s grace and salvation? Is there anything more important than a person’s soul and eternal life? In order to avoid populating Hell, we have to obey the commandment of Matthew 28:19-20.

First, we have to take this scripture for what it truly is: a commandment. This is not just a commission, as we more commonly refer to it (or limit it to). This was the one of the last things Jesus said before he ascended back to Heaven. It was his parting shot, so to speak. Jesus states in verse 18, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” so he relayed that power to his disciples at the time (and to us now). But he didn’t end his advice at just that. He went on to tell them what they are to do until he returns to take back the world he created.

We need to take a look at what Jesus does not say in this scripture after the word “go.” He doesn’t say, “go, if you are called.” He doesn’t say, “go, if you have time.” He doesn’t say, go, if the time and place is opportunistic.” He just says to go and make disciples and baptize all nations. When I read that, I take it to mean that I’m supposed to teach the good news of the gospel to anyone that needs it. (I’ll let you know in the next chapter how well I do that!) As has been written before, to be on the safe side, we should probably just assume that everyone needs to hear it.

Jesus also didn’t say save yourself and coast on in to eternal life with him. He didn’t even say to go and merely save souls. He said to go and make disciples. Disciples. That word ups the ante on our ministry a lot. Disciples are not just saved souls. Disciples are people who also want to lead others to be saved. So, you can look at this commandment as the populating heaven pyramid. In a discipleship class I participated in at our church I learned the value of discipleing rather than simply saving souls. If I lead one person a day to Christ for 13 years, I will have led 4,745 people to saving salvation. That’s a huge task in itself! If I disciple two people per year for that same time (and assuming those people also do the same), I will have taken part in 8,192 souls being saved! That task is much less daunting and much more encouraging.

The people we lead to salvation are to also lead others to salvation. That’s why he also adds that we must teach the disciples to obey. We have to equip them to lead. Disciples may start as struggling Christians but they can become powerful faith leaders. Of the original 12, 11 of them were prime examples of ordinary men that became mighty church foundations. They spent three years learning from the master. We don’t have the master but we have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible. A daily committment to those two will provide all the instruction we need to go and make disciples of all nations.

Most importantly, the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible will equip us in our quest to avoid populating Hell.

Uncomfortable

I’m uncomfortable.

I’m uncomfortable with the passive Christian life I’m leading. I’m uncomfortable with people around me going to hell. I’m uncomfortable with the fact that I might be the one sending them there. Being a Christian is not about being comfortable. We don’t live in our God’s world. God allows Satan to rule this world so, as Christians, we’re fish out of water on this earth. I’m tired of looking in the mirror and seeing me live my life in a giant school of fish swimming along the same current leading to the great abyss. I committed my life to salvation so I know I’m not going to hell, but I feel like I’m still helping populate it.

What you read in this blog is not intended to necessarily be uplifting. It shouldn’t be. I’m past that. I’ve read the Bible and a lot of other great authors who lift my spirits and motivated me to love, serve and minister. I am thankful for that and I continue to read to be uplifted. My friends and small groups uplift me. We all need that, don’t get me wrong. In that same Bible I read a lot of commands Jesus gave us that we seem to overlook way too often. I’m thankful that my accountability groups, small groups and friends now hold me to putting my faith into action.

This conviction started in the fall of 2011 while I was driving to formations for the Walk to Emmaus. I was supposed to give a witness talk when the song “What This World Needs” by Casting Crowns came over my CD player. In the song is the line, “What this world needs is for us to stop hiding behind our relevance. Blending in so well that people can’t see the difference and it’s the difference that sets the world free.” Based on that single line, I began jotting down notes for the witness talk in the parking lot. I wanted to stop blending in and showing the world “The Difference.”

It turns out that the Lord took my tongue in a different direction for the talk that night but he didn’t let me heart off the hook. 1 Corinthians 12:27 reads, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” I’ve heard that scripture my entire life but I’ve never taken it seriously and I don’t know if I do as of yet. On the way home from those Walk formations another Casting Crowns song, “If We Are The Body” played on my CD player that drove me to sobbing. These lines were the ones that drove a stake through my heart: “If we are the body, why aren’t his arms reaching? Why aren’t his hands healing?…Why is his love not showing them there is a way?”

Why?

Why aren’t my arms reaching? Why aren’t my hands healing? Why aren’t I showing anyone The Way? As I write all this, I might as well be looking in a mirror. God didn’t save me from hell to sit on the sidelines and watch others parade away to eternal damnation. He saved me to ”(fight) the good fight…(finish) the race…keep the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7 present tense paraphrased by me). Have I done any of this to my fullest? Not even close.

For the first 36 years of my life I was happy to be saved and coast right on into Heaven. That’s about the most unbiblical notion I’ve ever practiced as a Christian, and I’ve been an avid practicer of indifferent Christianity in many other ways. No more. My minister at the Christian Church of Jasper, Darrel Land, has said multiple times from the pulpit that God didn’t save us just to go to Heaven otherwise he would just take us there at the moment we accept his gift of salvation and are saved. I want to live like author and minister Frances Chan writes in his book Forgotten God: “I want to live in such a way that I’m desperate for Him to come through, and if he doesn’t come through, I’m screwed.” Those are very harsh words and Chan even debates int he book whether he should have written it. I’m glad he did. I seem to need it that front and center to get it.

I’m through populating hell with my actions, words and countless sins of omission. I hope my time on earth is not about up because I need all the rest of it I can get. I’ve got a lot of making up to do.

I’ve got a lot of populating Heaven to do!