Are you going to Hell?

Did that catch your attention? :)

There’s an interesting phrase that I hear tossed around every now and again, which usually occurs after someone does or says something they think is pretty inappropriate, but they decide to do or say it anyway. “I’m going to hell.” It’s an interesting moment. A lot of times, especially if I’ve heard them say they’ve attended church, I’ll find myself saying  “no, you’re not” or “not just for that” or “not because of that.” It always catches me off guard and rubs me the wrong way because I hate a works-based view of Christianity.

I think it’s important that before I start going into my soap-box thoughts on this subject, I should put out there exactly what it is that I believe. That way if someone reads this besides my family or friends, it will be clear what worldview I take. I believe that Jesus, who is the Son of God, came to earth and died for our sins. He rose 3 days later and is living today. In order to gain access into heaven, we must confess our sins to Him and follow Him. Mostly, that involves repentance, recognizing sin (what is unpleasant and unacceptable in God’s sight) and turning away from it. The best part of all is that forgiveness is always available when we do mess up.

 I've said it a million times, and I'll never stop saying it.  Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. It's not set by hard rules or a one-time-mess-up losing it all. But that's also not to say that we can do whatever we want without consequence. Our pastor has a great saying: Forgiveness is not a time machine. If I could give you three attributes of sin, it would be these: 1. It's wrong. 2. It's forgivable. 3. It has consequences. All three of those live in tandem. You can be wrong and forgiven, but still have consequences. I'm sure there are a few people in jail who know they're wrong, are sorry, and will come out and change their ways, but they still have to stay in there. Imagine if all you had to do was say you were sorry to get out!

There's a flip side to all this. What if instead of blurting out that phrase, we said after every sin "I deserve to go to Hell." How much would that change our appreciation of Jesus' gift to us? I don't know about you, but I would love to think I'm not that bad of a person. I've never killed anyone or committed adultery. But I do have jealous thoughts, roll my eyes at my husband, get lazy, snap at my coworkers, and about a million other things that are wrong every day. So, no, I'm not such a great person. In fact, I am a sinner. But, if you look above, I'm not going to Hell, though I deserve it. I am forgiven. I am covered by Christ's blood.

Truly awesome.