There are two obstacles that some people face regarding eternal life: (1) we are focused with the here and now – we are not interested in deferred rewards, and (2) we like to be independent. Regarding the first obstacle, we are certainly focused on the here and now. It is human nature to take care of our existence which is the immediate state we find ourselves in. I witnessed to a twenty-year old one time and asked him, “Are you concerned about where you will spend eternal life?” His response was, “I am not concerned about it, because I have my life now to live.” My follow-up question was, “But, God forbid, what if you died tonight. Your eternal existence would start then. Do you have any concern for that?” To this, he did not have a reply. Some people view it as eternal life insurance. But quite simply, we just need to expand our perception of life.
The second obstacle perhaps is more difficult to overcome. If we submit to Jesus Christ, we fear that we may lose control of the things we want to do. We like to do what we want, and we don’t want to be told what to do. I experienced that myself, like many others, in my teenage years. I went through what some might call “the rebellion stage,” but like everyone else, becoming independent is what we all experience when we eventually leave the enclave of our parents. The issue with this is that it is human nature to think and make decisions for ourselves. It took me thirty-five years of marriage to realize the discernment that my wife has. It seems that most of the time, things turn out much better when I first consider what she has to say. But I have to make a conscious effort to seek her advice because it is human nature for me to think and make decisions for myself. Similarly, it is difficult for us to submit to Jesus Christ and confess that we are sinners. It takes humility (and dependency) to ask Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sin. We must humble ourselves even further to submit to His Word and follow Him. It’s not just eternal life insurance – it involves a new life with Him that starts right now.
Submission to Jesus Christ ensures eternal life. Even though the passage from this life into eternity with Christ might seem unpredictable and precarious, we can be assured that Christ will be there with us all the way. In fact, He is here with us right now, guiding us with the Holy Spirit. John Stevenson put it beautifully in these words: “Death is the great valley which separates time from eternity. Multitudes enter this ‘valley of decision,’ but none return to inform us of its depth or its darkness, its difficulties, or its dangers. To the eye of sense it appears a real valley, and full of dangers, as inevitable as they are appalling. To the eye of faith it wears but a semblance of a valley, with all the appearances, but none of the realities of danger. . . . But the believer not only walks into the valley, he walks ‘through’ it. It is his privilege to know, that whatever may be the trials and difficulties of the valley of the shadow of death, he shall pass through them all in safety. His Almighty Shepherd is with him. And so beautiful and attractive does the land beyond appear, that the damp vapors and the appalling darkness around and before him seem as nothing in comparison.”[1]
[1] John Stevenson, The Lord Our Shepherd (1846; repr., Vestavia Hills, AL: Solid Ground Christian Books, 2016), 155-156, 161.