John 3:15-17
I have learned that many people assume that since God is loving, He will make a place for everyone in heaven. They do not understand the basic truths about lost and saved.
We all start life as lost beings. Adam was the first man and served as representative of the human race. When he sinned against God, his spirit became one of rebellion and sinfulness. That sin nature, which is passed along to each generation, results in our being lost. Neither our deeds nor the fact of God’s love are the determining factors.
When Adam sinned, his intimate relationship with God died. We, his descendants, are born into that state. Although we are physically alive at birth, our spirit, the only part of us that can relate to God, is dead.
We are eternal beings. Because we are made in God’s image, our souls are eternal. Yet Scripture tells us that those who reject Christ as Savior will perish. This does not mean annihilation; rather, the lost will experience consciousness after physical death, but will be separated eternally from God.
I have learned that new birth is required. To have a relationship with our heavenly Father requires that the part of us that has been dead to God now be made alive. When we trust in Jesus, the very life of God is born in us, and we move from being spiritually dead and lost to being alive and saved.
Our heavenly Father, out of love for us, provided just what we needed… A SAVIOR.
Gladys H. Fleming