***I’ve lost people close to me and have been a caregiver for a long time.  There has been  a lot of soul searching and asking why.  This post is ‘all the questions’… and a simple answer.***

Where will you go?  It’s a choice after all.

What I’m about to ask is uncomfortable, but important…

People will think I’m intense and overreacting, but we are only given so much time. I live with this every day. What actually matters to you in life? What are you living for or working toward? Is it a better future here? Are you killing yourself for a job to gain all you can because you only live once?

How will you be remembered?

Did you do good for others?  Did you ever hurt anyone?  If you did make bad decisions and caused pain have you reconciled with them?  Were you given the chance to?  Did you take it?

Why is there hurt and pain anyway?

What’s the point of “doing good”?

Do you know why you are here or wonder why you have an existence?

If you have an idea of why you are here do you ever wonder about what comes next?

Does anything come next?  Would it be ok if it didn’t?

What if what you’re working toward and striving for makes absolutely no difference for your next life? And if there is no next life then what is the point of doing it all your achieving at all?

If you were to die today do you know with 100% certainty what would happen to you?

If you knew you were going to take your last breath today what would your last thought be? What do you wish you had done?

Do you know without a doubt what you believed is true?

Do you know where you are going? If you were given only two options of Heaven or hell could you stand there and automatically respond with no hesitation and 100% assurance of your fate? Are you ok with that? And if you do know with 100% certainty did you do everything you thought you could do to get it? Do you deserve it? What makes you so sure? Look at your life.

What if none of it mattered?

Imagine that you are 100 years old and are reflecting back on your life. Would you be happy with it? Do you have regrets you couldn’t shake? Maybe you’re content with all of your choices.

Maybe you had a well paying job. Or maybe you didn’t. Maybe you had a job that simply paid the bills and that’s ok. Your bills were paid. Maybe you traveled. Maybe you never got a chance. Maybe you got married. Maybe you never wanted. Is it because you were too selfish to share your life wth another or was it because you never found the right one?

Maybe you had children. Maybe you didn’t. Maybe you couldn’t.

Maybe you weren’t meant to get married and have children and that’s ok. Your journey brought you to do something else.

But, while you were reflecting and see yourself at 100 years old did any of it matter? While you are taking your final breath are you surrounded by those you love and who loved you? Are you alone? Are you scared? It’s your last one…. You have one last thought… What is it? Would anything you did in your life matter in the end? Would you have done things differently?

What about your soul? Do you have one or are we empty vessels? Do you have any value at all? If you have a soul do you know what happens to it? What if all of a sudden you realized there was nothing good that you did to earn your eternity? What if you realized you wasted all that time? What if with your last breath you realized it was all vanity?

What would you do?

What if that was today?

Nothing in this life is guaranteed. It is all temporary and tomorrow isn’t promised.

What are you doing with your life? Are you living your best life and making every second count? What does that mean exactly? Is it out of selfish gain or genuine consideration?

All of the treasures you obtained on earth and all the pleasures and “good things” you did while you were alive do not mean anything in this one moment.  This is reality. You’re facing eternity now. Are you ok with that?

Is what you lived for and served going to save you? Did you need saving? Were you a good person? How do you know if you were good or not?

What was the standard to compare your goodness?

What makes your good different than the next person? What if who you don’t think is very good is like you and a good person in their own eyes? Neither of you have done anything “bad” or murdered anyone. What makes their definition of good different than yours?

If everyone has their own truth what makes something true? What are you comparing truths to?

Have you ever hated someone? Have you ever had lustful thoughts? What if those things were just as bad as committing murder and adultery?

That’s ridiculous isn’t it?

What if your thoughts needed to be controlled just as much as your actions?  Nobody sees those.  Nobody knows the depths of your heart or what you do in secret except you, right?

What if salvation couldn’t be earned and it was only a gift freely given?

Would you take it?

What if all the works you did couldn’t save you? What if all the money you gave to the church and all the volunteering and “good” you did for charities couldn’t help you earn a place in eternity?  What if all of the “sacrifices” and “works” you did for God didn’t actually matter?  What if all of your “religious duties” didn’t mean a thing?

What if all of the “good” you did for others were for nothing?

What if there was no way for you to earn salvation on your own?  Would your world come crashing down?

Would you feel lost?  Would you realize everything you have done was for your own ego?

What if someone already paid the price for you and all He wanted was you?

Would you give up everything you thought you knew to get this free gift?

Would you be thankful and relieved knowing you are enough as you are?  You didn’t have to actually do anything.  What if there was someone Who took that place of guilt and shame and all that striving and said “it is finished”. What if someone loved you so much that they wanted you forever and paid a debt you never could pay?  What if He was the only way to Heaven? What if believing Him was the only way to have an assurance of eternity?

What if Jesus was real and what He said was true?

What if He meant “come to Me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest?”

Would you go?

The answer to all these questions is a very simple one: Jesus.

Youtube Link: Natalie Grant – Clean

“ASK, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN YOU; SEEK, AND YE SHALL FIND; KNOCK, AND IT SHALL BE OPENED UNTO YOU: FOR EVERY ONE THAT ASKETH RECEIVETH; AND HE THAT SEEKETH FINDETH; AND TO HIM THAT KNOCKETH IT SHALL BE OPENED.”
– MATTHEW 7:7-8

“CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART, O GOD; AND RENEW A RIGHT SPIRIT WITHIN ME.”
– PSALM 51:10

“FOR BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED THROUGH FAITH; AND THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD: NOT OF WORKS, LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST.” – EPHESIANS 2:8-9

“LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED: YE BELIEVE IN GOD, BELIEVE ALSO IN ME.  IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS: IF IT WERE NOT SO, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU. I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU.  AND IF I GO AND PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, I WILL COME AGAIN, AND RECEIVE YOU UNTO MYSELF; THAT WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE ALSO.  AND WHITHER I GO YE KNOW, AND THE WAY YE KNOW.  THOMAS SAITH UNTO HIM, LORD, WE KNOW NOT WHITHER THOU GOEST; AND HOW CAN WE KNOW THE WAY?
JESUS SAITH UNTO HIM, I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE: NO MAN COMETH UNTO THE FATHER, BUT BY ME. IF YE HAD KNOWN ME, YE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN MY FATHER ALSO: AND FROM HENCEFORTH YE KNOW HIM, AND HAVE SEEN HIM.”
– JOHN 14:1-7

“MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, AND I KNOW THEM, AND THEY FOLLOW ME: AND I GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE; AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH, NEITHER SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY HAND.” – JOHN 10:27-28

“SO GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE, IN THE IMAGE OF GOD CREATED HE HIM; MALE AND FEMALE CREATED HE THEM.
AND GOD BLESSED THEM, AND GOD SAID UNTO THEM, BE FRUITFUL, AND MULTIPLY, AND REPLENISH THE EARTH, AND SUBDUE IT: AND HAVE DOMINION OVER THE FISH OF THE SEA, AND OVER THE FOWL OF THE AIR, AND OVER EVERY LIVING THING THAT MOVETH UPON THE EARTH.”
-GENESIS 1:27-28