PLAN YOUR ETERNITY NOW

There is a hymn called “I’ll Fly Away,” written by Albert E. Brumley in 1929, which, many years ago, in my youthful days, we sang in my church. The words of the song are, “Some glad morning when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away. To a home on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away. I’ll fly away, oh glory, I’ll fly away. When I die, Hallelujah, by and by, I’ll fly away. We sang this comforting hymn with the expectation that upon death, our life that was filled with unwanted challenges would cease, and we would be with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Back then, I was not necessarily thinking about death, but because of my mother’s teaching on hell, the rapture of the saints, which I felt could occur at any time and eternity, I gave my life to God.  

Many years have passed, and I am still living, but my mom and other saints, as mentioned in the song, have flown away. They have entered into eternity, having their fate sealed along with everyone who was ever born and died on the planet Earth. After death, there is no reincarnation; you do not have the opportunity to come back to Earth and relive your life. Therefore, we all need to live our lives with the understanding that the choices we make about accepting Jesus as our Savior will determine our eternal abode. If you accept Jesus as your Savior, you will spend eternity with Him, and if you choose not to accept Him after the White Throne Judgment, you will be placed in the lake of fire.  

I believe one of the problems humans have is that they don’t understand eternity. For most of us, we understand beginnings and endings, but eternity, which is never-ending life, is really hard to fathom. The dictionary defines eternity as infinite or unending time, a state to which time has no application; timelessness; endless life after death; and a period of time that seems very long, mainly on account of being tedious or annoying. Please note the last phase of this definition, which says, “especially on account of being tedious or annoying.” This is what unbelievers will be experiencing as they join the antichrist, false prophet, and the devil in the lake of fire. Matthew 13:49-50 and Revelation 20:10,15 describes the eternal experience of this place like this, “ So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” and “The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” I know this is not a place that I would want to spend eternity in when there is an alternative that would provide me with joy, peace, and comfort.

God also does not want people to end up in the lake of fire, as stated in 2 Peter 3:9, ^“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” In not creating us robots but rather humans that have free will to choose, God has given us the ability to determine our eternal destination, and now is the time to do so. Remember, tomorrow is not promised to us. In your life, this is the most important thing for which you can plan, and I pray that, like me, you are making plans to be with Jesus