The Road

The Road

by Maria Hartman

On a recent road trip with my kids, we got on the subject of heaven and hell. Specifically, how Jesus clearly speaks more about the place of torment called hell than about the glorious paradise called heaven. “Why is that?” asked one of my sons. I answered him the best way I could, and then God gave me an analogy that really hit home.

Come join us on our drive...

I told them to imagine that we were driving along an ordinary road, exactly as we were, and everything was fine as far as we could see.  Although we wouldn’t see it coming, there was going to be a sudden drop off in a few miles, and we and our car would plummet hundreds of feet to our death. There was no other option on this road, and we would
never be able to tell exactly when it would happen. Without plans to get off, we’d continue on it, unaware of the horrific danger we were in. BUT, if we exited off the road we were
on, we could get on a new road that would not only lead us to permanent safety, but would bring us to a beautiful garden. There, everything we could ever want to see and experience would be ours. I asked the kids, “What good would it do to know about the existence of this great place, and to keep talking about this great place, if we were about to drive directly off of a cliff?”

In this analogy, we will never reach that place of beauty if we don’t understand the dangers of the cliff. And in real life, we will never reach heaven if we don’t understand the dangers of hell assigned to every person who is not born again.

If we were truly about to head off of a cliff, it wouldn’t matter what other options ‘could
be’, we’d have to deal with that one first. We’d want someone to tell us what was
going to happen to us, wouldn’t we? It is a loving thing to warn someone of impending harm, especially if you know how to avoid it. It is the only right thing to do; others must know that unless there is a specific road change, great horror will await. There is a way of escape; there is ONE way of escape.

John 14: 6 Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  ONE road leads to heaven, not all roads. Any other road, no matter how wonderful or noble, leads to the end, and to the sudden cliff that will swallow up each and every life.

For Today:
What road are you on? Are you sure you are heading to heaven because you have personally asked Jesus Christ to forgive your sin? Have others seen the fruit He has produced in your heart and life? Have you warned anyone lately (or ever) of the grave danger awaiting them on the road to destruction? This is not an opinion: this is truth; this is real. People all around us are driving aimlessly along, without a clue of what is to come.

Does that break your heart?

Then let’s love them by pointing them onto the road of Redemption, Hope, and Life; the way of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 20: 14-15
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.