One Way Ticket

Thinking about this world and what we deem important, it is always funny to me how we seem to forget that this is not our final stop.  The bible says that we are pilgrims here, sojourners who should be looking for a better home (Hebrews 11).  When we are born into this world, we receive a one way ticket from here to eternity.  Sure, it is nice to have nice things and to accumulate savings and 401K's but we cannot take any of that with us. 


Hebrews 9:27-28 "And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him."


The scripture says that we are all destined to die and after that, we face the judgment.  Those of us who are in Christ will face a judgment, not to determine if we go to heaven or hell, but to determine what gifts we will receive on the other side. 


1 Corinthians 3:11-15 "For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.  If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.  If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire."


Every Christian's work will be tested by fire.   We are not saved by works but we should bear fruit that shows that we walk with Christ.  Our works should glorify God.  With the one way ticket that we have received, let us do all that we can to lift up the name of Jesus.  William Barclay in his commentary on Hebrews says "from the beginning, Christianity was a religion of judgment.  No Christian was ever allowed to forget that in the end, he/she must face God, and that what God thought of him/her was infinitely more important that what men thought of him/her."


For the unbeliever, they too have a one way ticket.  They too have to face a judgment.  They too are only sojourners.  Once when I was a college student, my roommate and I were discussing the afterlife.  He said that he believes once we die we turn into energy.  At that time, spiritually, I was nowhere near where I am now but I was not buying that.  There is not a transition to energy, as blissful as that sounds.  There is only a judgment of fire waiting:


Hebrews 10:26, 27 "For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES."


We are born into this world with a one-way ticket to eternity.  Where we spend in eternity depends on the decision that we make here to either follow Christ or remain in our sins.  Jesus has paid for our sins but it is up to us to accept that payment.  That decision has eternal consequences.  Is your ticket stamped in the blood of the Lamb?