“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jn 3:16 NIV
When whosoever believes, the promise is we will not perish but have eternal life. This means that we will never know the depths and depravity of eternal separation from God. Think about your most difficult, dark and devastating day on earth then multiply that by a factor of eternity. Difficulty without relief. Darkness where you cannot even see your hand in front of your face. Devastation where things like loneliness, anxiety, depression, rage, fear and so on, are your only companions. Pain, sorrow, lawlessness the only things you ever have…For. Ever. More. Hell is real, my Friends, but if we simply choose to believe, we will never know any of that…and we do not have to know it here in this world either.
By God’s Grace, even here if we start to feel those negative emotions, like depression for instance, we can learn to use those awful reactions as a sign that we have forgotten who we now are in Christ. We have moved away from God and are trying to live like we used to live before we surrendered our lives to Jesus. At any point in time, we can return to God. The Bible calls this repentance. And once we return, we once again have access to the Fruit of the Spirit and can sense this free gift of Eternal Life. If we started to feel depressed, instead we can grab hold of peace and joy. This “death symptom” leaves us and we no longer feel as if we are perishing. No more death in the next life, and learning to not experience it here either! This is the gift when whosoever simply believes in God’s Love.
<>< Peace, Diane
