The Conversation - Pt. V (A Forked Road)

If you've been paying attention to the letters, you probably have a good idea what the word is we've been spelling out on your fingers. F-A-I-T and now H, which stands for Heaven and Hereafter.

If you remember when we talked about 'F is for forgiveness,' the verse I mentioned was from Ephesians, Paul's letter to the church he had visited in the Greek town of Ephesus. A little later in his letter, Paul told the Ephesians about FAITH:

"For by grace are you saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works (performance), lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8 & 9

So the answer to the original question - how can a person get to heaven - is by faith.

"There seem to be an awful lot of assumptions involved in this plan of yours."

It's not MY plan, and those assumptions, as you call them, are simply acts of faith. Hebrews 11:1 tells us, "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see."

A different paraphrase of that verse says, "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see." Let me ask you another question: do you believe that I exist?

"Duh! I can see you, touch you, smell your aftershave, shake your hand, throw you out of my house if I get tired of you. Do I believe you exist? That's a no-brainer."

That's because it takes absolutely no faith to believe in me; I am physical and visible. God and Heaven are not nearly so easy, though. And yet, people can and do believe in God and Heaven and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and in the devil, too.

"Old mister red suit with the pitchfork and forked tail and horns and goat feet? Old Scratch? Sign your name in blood on the contract and sell your soul for your heart's desire?"

Oh, he does like people who view him like that. He's not so scary like that, and people always are able to outwit him, right?

"Yeah, he does make a lot of bad decisions, but hey ... everybody does."

Do you know what the Bible says about him? He's like a hungry lion, roaring and prowling around looking for someone to tear to shred. He would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Actually, that's not quite true. He would love even more to have you believe in the red guy story, and that God is like Santa Claus and that everyone is going to heaven. He would like nothing more than for you to do nothing. To believe in nothing at all. He wants you to believe that Jesus was a good man. And so were Moses and Mohammed and Buddha and Socrates and Plato and Gandhi and more. He wants you to believe God sits on a cloud and watches the world go by, never getting involved except for special cases. He wants you to believe in movie demons. He wants you to believe the Bible is a history book written by men and that you can pick and choose which parts you want to believe. He wants you to do nothing about heaven except go on exactly as you are now.

"Is there a problem with how I'm living now?"

Is it like paradise? Don't you ever ask yourself, "Is this all there is?"

"It's a far cry from paradise, I'll tell you that. But it's all we have, right? That's why Heaven is so special, I thought. Other than sitting around on a cloud and playing the harp ..."

Jesus said He came to earth to give us a more abundant, full, rich life while we're here. When you choose to turn away from sin and self and trust in Jesus, you automatically place one foot in Heaven, the Hereafter. This is not to say that life will suddenly be a bed of roses, although maybe you could say it is, complete with thorns!

"Well, that wouldn't be so different from my life now, 'cuz I've certainly got thorns sticking me all the time."

Do you wish you had someone to help you through those painful times when you're being stuck? I mean someone besides your wife. And someone to celebrate the good times with, too?

"I suppose you're going to tell me that God wants to take care of all my problems. You told me He's not like Santa Claus. You even said He wants to chop me down but Jesus wants Him to give me another year."

Here's what Jesus said about problems: "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

"I'm sorry. What does that mean?"

Here's the same verse from the Bible, put into today's terminology: "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

"Well, that sounds good, but I have a feeling this involves going to church several times a week, wearing a tie, and actually staying awake during the sermon."

Before I respond to that, I just have one more question for you: if you were to die tonight, where would you end up?