Currently, we’re in a message series entitled “Why Am I Here?” We’ve been talking about why you and I exist, why we were created by God. It’s an important question, important for how we live our life here on this earth and important for what happens after we die. For you see, this life is simply preparation for eternity, for our life after death. That makes it critically important how we life our lives here and now, for how we live here and now will determine our forever, forever.
Yet many people live their lives as though there was nothing on the other side. Most Americans, 81%, believe in an afterlife of some sort, some sort of life after death. But what people think that life consists of varies considerably among people. The Bible speaks of only two possible destinations for life after death, heaven or hell.
Opinions are fine if your opinion is whether you like the color blue or brown. But opinions on matters of fact are simply foolish. For example, what is the average distance between the earth and the sun? 9 million miles, 90 million miles or 900 million miles. You can have your opinion, but the facts are that the most correct answer is 90 million miles, 92 million miles to be exact. God didn’t leave us to speculate about whether there was life after death or what that life might be like. He’s given us the facts the truth in the Word of God, the Bible. And that’s what we talk about here at Life Church, the truth, not speculation, not opinion, but simply the truth.
Today my message is entitled “You Were Created To Live Forever.” God created you to have a relationship with Him, not just a relationship for a mere 100 years or so, but a relationship that would last forever. God created you to have a relationship with Him that would outlast the visible universe, that how much He loves you. God has implanted in the heart of every human being the desire to have a relationship with their creator and the desire to live forever. NLT Ecclesiastes 3:11 God has planted eternity in the human heart.
You have the desire to live forever and to have relationships that last forever. That’s what makes death so painful, that’s why it’s normal to do everything we can to avoid dying. God placed that desire the desire for life, the desire for eternity in your heart. What you and I and what our children think about eternity affects every aspect of our life in this world and will affect the endless time of eternity for better or for worse. So let’s talk about how we should live in light in eternity.
To hear more about this topic, listen to my January 22, 2006 message entitled You Were Created To Live Forever