Don’t Just Hope You’ll Go to Heaven
By Rick Warren

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11-12 NIV).

If you went to a shopping mall today and asked people if they were going to heaven or hell, you’d likely hear many of them say, “I hope I’ll go to heaven.”

But hope just isn’t good enough. I pray that’s not your answer. Your eternal destiny is too important not to know for sure.

You’re not guaranteed another minute on this planet, much less another hour. The most recent statistics show that mortality rates in the world remain 100 percent! Death is inevitable—so it’s foolish not to be prepared. Don’t put off the most important choice you’ll ever make.

The Bible says in 1 John 5:11-12, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (NIV).

That’s about as clear as you can get. If you have Jesus, you have life. If you don’t have Jesus, you do not have life. You have a choice.

You won’t go to heaven because of someone else’s faith. You’ll never go to hell because of someone else’s choice.

It’s your choice! You get to decide where you’ll spend eternity.

This is why we celebrate Christmas and Easter. If Jesus hadn’t come at Christmas—and then if he hadn’t died and come back to life on Easter—our situation would be hopeless. Nothing you do would matter. You wouldn’t have this choice.

The Bible says, “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14 NLT).

The cross is the answer to your deepest problem: your separation from God. Make the choice today to be reconciled to God through Jesus and to secure your eternity in heaven.

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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

You can listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.