Going Around the Roadblock

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John 3:17-19

I read a post on Facebook that told me how Christians use Heaven as a reward and Hell as a threat. Now, I’m not in the habit of believing the nonsense on Facebook. But I heard this same thing said long before Facebook was ever around. I assume this person was not a Christian because I cannot image a Christian being so misinformed.

There is no place in scripture that says heaven is a reward. There are rewards in heaven. The place itself, though beautiful and filled with peace and indescribable joy, is not a reward in the strict sense of the word. However, Christianity does have a reward. The true reward of Christianity is Christ.

What was Jesus’ promise to the thief beside Him on the cross? To day shalt thou be with Me in paradise. Yes, it says paradise, but it is the presence of Jesus that makes it so. There is no entry there except a person belongs to Him. He is the Way there, and He is the Truth and the Life one experiences there. His presence is paradise and there is no heaven apart from Him. Christians don’t live the life they do to go to heaven. We live it to be near Him, like Him, and to be joined to Him, now and forever.

In much the same way, Hell is not a threat and God does not “send” people there. Hell is the present reality. It is life without Him. He that believeth not is condemned already. Hell is not a place that a person is sent to, it is a place to which we are on the way. It’s only a matter of time until a person arrives.

Jesus is the roadblock God has put up on the road to hell which we are traveling. To get to hell, we must go around the roadblock. There are no police to stop us from going around. The way around is clear, and there’s no cross traffic to worry about. The only light is for traffic going the opposite way. Drive around or turn around which will it be?