Week 5 - Monday

Two Ways to Spend Eternity

There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 2:9-10)

Even unsaved people are going to live forever. Eternity for them however, will not be eternal life but eternal tribulation and distress. Thlipsis is the Greek word from which we get tribulation and it means extreme pressure, affliction, anguish, or persecution. Distress is from the Greek stenochoria, which means a narrow place. It was often used to refer to severe confinement. People often joke about going to hell. Some of them say, they might as well go there because that's where all their friends will be. Hell is a horrible place though. They wouldn't enjoy being with their friends there. They would be suffering too much for that. Jesus described hell as a place where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:47-48). Another reason why hell is so miserable for the people confined there, is the fact that they are there for eternity. It's like being sentenced to life in prison but because you never die, your punishment never ends. Adding to their agony, is knowing they are separated from God and heaven forever. How awful it would be to know that you had heard the gospel and rejected it. God was patient with you and gave you plenty of time to repent, but you never did, and now you will spend eternity in hell. Your whole life would have been wasted. Everything you had accomplished would mean nothing to you now, because you ignored the one most important thing of all. Can you recall a time when you were totally disgusted with yourself for something you did. You thought about it over and over. You said to yourself, "If only I had done this instead." How much you wished you could go back and change it. But there's no going back to change anything, once you're in hell. You will be disgusted with yourself forever. You will have nobody to blame for being there but yourself, and you will have all of eternity to do it.

On the other hand, God will not disappoint those who obey Him. God will give them the glory and honor they are seeking. God will reward them because their good deeds show they have been saved. Just as the evil deeds of the unsaved person show they do not know God, the good deeds of the saved show that they do. From the moment a person believes in Jesus Christ, they are pleasing to God because of two reasons. One, their sin has been washed away by Christ's blood. When Jesus died on the cross His precious blood was worthy enough to make payment for all the combined sins of all mankind. Reason number two; because the Holy Spirit is living in them, they are doing deeds that are pleasing to God. These good deeds also give the believer assurance they are saved. When a person finds themselves obeying God, because it is what they want to do, they know that God's Spirit is leading them and they know they are saved. Knowing you are saved produces peace in your heart because you know in the end, everything will be okay for you. Inner peace comes as the result of knowing that your future is secure forever. If you have come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and have this peace in your heart, thank Him for that today.

Readings for today: Matt. 13:49-50; Luke 16:19-26; Rev. 22:12; Rom. 15:13; 1 Pet. 5:14