Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

We live in a world where there are as many opinions as there are people. In such a world as ours, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell apart truth, from what is majority opinion. For many, truth is what the majority are saying, and for others, truth is what agrees with their own personal conceptions. Nothing can be further from the truth. The reality is that Truth is whatever God says! That is, regardless of whether truth is a lone voice, or, it disagrees with what you personally believe, Truth is what God says it is!

Some 600 years ago, men were executed for daring to say that the earth is round. These men, who were in the minority at the time, were hounded by the State and the Church. They were tried, found guilty of heresy, and executed. Meanwhile, many Centuries before then, some 1,900 years before that time (that is, about 2,500 years ago), God had spoken through Isaiah the prophet saying: “Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers…” (Isaiah 40:21–22 KJV). The operational portion of this scripture is, “He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth.” The phrase, “circle of the earth”, signifies that the earth is round and not flat! We don’t need Science to tell us the truth. Science is knowledge based on observation and experiments. Science is not truth! Truth is something that comes from God. Truth is found in the word of God; that is, what we know today as the Bible. Meanwhile, there are people today who still erroneously insist that the earth is flat. They believe that since they are not convinced that the earth is round, therefore to them, the earth is flat.

Truth cannot be altered or negated by claims of ignorance. The fact that one has not yet experienced truth, cannot make truth a lie. Truth is irrefutable and incontrovertible!

Take for example, Gravity as one such truth. When a person jumps up, he is not suspended mid-air, but falls back to the ground! It does not make sense therefore for a person born crippled to dispute this fact, just because he has never jumped up. Another truth is that everyone dies: the young, the old, male, female, everyone! The fact that a person is strong, healthy, and alive today, does not and cannot dismiss the truth that one day, he or she will die!

Closely related to the truth about the certainty of death, is that, everyone who dies, returns to the Creator to give an account of the life he lived. Therefore, that a person does not believe in the existence of God the Creator, does not, and cannot, change this truth! The bible says that each person has an appointment with death once, and afterwards, comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). When a person dies, his spirit returns to God where all his deeds while here on earth are subject to God’s scrutiny and judgment; after which he will either be acquitted of guilt, or, sentenced to everlasting punishment in hell. Everlasting means forever. It is not one hundred years, neither is it one thousand years, nor is it a million years: it is more than these number of years put together. Everlasting is simply, forever! Where you spend eternity has nothing to do with your religion or creed. Where you spend eternity has everything to do with whether you are in a right relationship with God.

When a person dies, his soul goes to stand before God, the Judge of the whole earth. When he is found to have lived as God wanted, he is given access into heaven where he will live with God forever. But, where he is found to have lived for himself, or for the devil, he is sentenced to stay in hell and suffer along with the devil forever. This, dear friend, is not fable, neither is it an opinion. This is truth!

A wise man therefore should seek to prepare himself, so that when his time comes to stand before the Creator, he will be able to give a good account of his stay on earth. A wise man should start living as God expects him to. Living for God implies that you are first and foremost born again of the Spirit of God. This takes place as you confess your sins to God, seek His pardon, and hand over your life to Him. Thereafter, God’s gift of eternal life, which comes through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will be yours! Being born of God makes you a friend of God, a member of God’s family, and, one who will stand before God on the Last Day without fear of damnation.

Friend, there is no other way to God except through Jesus Christ! (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus says of Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). I believe this and I know it to be truth.

You need to confess your sins to God today. Accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord of your life. Surrender your heart to Him, and He will give you the free gift of salvation. Only then, can you live as God wants you to. Doing good deeds without first being born again and living as God wants you to, will not count when you stand before God to give account of your life. By good deeds, we mean, acts of kindness and benevolence towards others, which include donations to motherless babies’ homes, helping the poor, giving to beggars, building houses for communities, engaging in positive political action programs, and so on. These good deeds by themselves are not bad, but they will not be rewarded in eternity if the doer is not first born of the Spirit of God. It is like running a race, breasting the tape, but not running by the rules of the race. Though the athlete may take first position in such a race, he will be disqualified and will not be given the prize for he did not run according to the rules. Such is good deeds from one who has no relationship with God. You must be born again to qualify for the race to Heaven.

Quit trying to win God over by engaging in ‘good deeds’ without first being born again. Submit to God, let Him make you one of His, first. Accept His free gift of salvation, then, will your good deeds count in eternity.

Be wise my friend, there can be no eternity with God without Jesus Christ in your life. This, is an incontrovertible truth!

footnote: This is another entry from “Journeys into Salvation: Finding your way in life”, a compilation of 47 10-minute radio broadcasts between 2010 and 2011 under the pseudonym “The Voice of One”; published by Hebron Publishing on Kindle Digital Publishing (http://a.co/fCKE8bX)