You Can Live Forever

*Has anyone ever shown you in the Bible how you can KNOW for sure you'll have eternal life in heaven?

To start the Bible has some very bad news for you. But, there is also some good news.

First the bad news...

Romans 3:23 in the Bible tells us something we all know, that we have done some things that are wrong: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

To "sin" means to have disobeyed God. We all know this is true about ourselves. We know that we have lied, hated, lusted, stolen, gossiped or done wrong in other ways. God originally created us perfect, but no matter how hard we try, we'll always fall short of perfection.

Let's suppose we are in California and the goal is to swim to Hawaii. Everyone jumps in the water and starts swimming. Some will not get very far before they drown. Others will swim further. But in the end everyone will drown. No one will make it to Hawaii. No one has the ability on their own to swim from California to Hawaii.

The same is true with our lives. No one has the ability on their own to live a perfect life. We all, in one way or another, will disobey God.

And the bad news gets worse...

There is a penalty for disobeying God. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death."

Notice that the word "wages" is used in this verse. If you have a job, and you work at that job for a week, at the end of the week your boss owes you your wages. You did the work, you earned the wages, and you deserve and have a right to those wages.

It's the same with sin. We have disobeyed God and have earned the consequences. We deserve to die and be separated from God forever. Since God is just, we will get what we've earned.

But there is good news!

In Romans 5:8 God tells us, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Here's an example that illustrates this. Suppose you are dying of cancer. You are very sick and are in the hospital. I come by to visit you and say, "Let's take the cancer cells from your body and put them in my body."

If that was possible, what would happen to me? I would die in your place.

What would happen to you? You would live.

This is exactly what Jesus has done for us. He has taken our sin on Himself and has suffered the consequences in our place. He died so that we can live.

The news gets even better!

You can live! You can have eternal life (what is called being saved from death), if you believe that Christ died to pay the penalty for your sins.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace [by a free gift from God] you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

Trust that Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sins and you will live.

Would you like to tell God you are trusting Jesus as your Savior? If you would, just tell Him what you are thinking and feeling. If you'd like to see an example, here's a typical prayer.

*The above is based on a tract published by Evantell. We invite you to visit their web site at: www.evantell.org