Everlasting Fire
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: Matthew 25:41
On Saturday, I was making fried green tomatoes to add to a BLT (very good!). As I attempted to remove the burning cornmeal/flour mix from the skillet between batches, a little slipped from the spoon and onto my thumb. The hot oil mixed with the burnt cornmeal made removing it a little difficult. Pain instantly set in and for the rest of the evening, I sat with an ice cube on my thumb attempting to relieve the pain. I now sport a small (too small for the pain I endured) blister as a reminder of this clumsiness.
Why am I sharing this with you? It gave me a stark reminder - hell is real. The Bible calls it a lake of fire where there is no relief. The pain I endured for a pencil eraser size burn doesn't even compare to the pain that will be endured by those who choose to make hell their eternal destination.
Matthew calls it an everlasting fire - one from which no ice cube will provide relief. Can you imagine living for all eternity in a fire that never consumes, just tortures?
In addition to the pain from the fire, those in hell will also be separated from God's presence. The protection provided to us through our lives by God will no longer be available as we will weep, wail, and suffer other tortures.
No imagery that I can provide will give even a small glimpse of this. Even standing near a bonfire, the hottest one you can imagine, can provide the truth of how hot hell will truly be.
So then, why do we go about our lives from day to day with no real care for those who are lost and bound for this all too real place? We stand idly on the sidelines of their lives seeing how they make the wrong choice about their eternity without so much as a peep of sharing God's love with them.
Well, as an old preacher once said, as long as there is breath, there is hope.
Share that hope with someone who needs it. Just one more soul will make it all worth the while
C
On Saturday, I was making fried green tomatoes to add to a BLT (very good!). As I attempted to remove the burning cornmeal/flour mix from the skillet between batches, a little slipped from the spoon and onto my thumb. The hot oil mixed with the burnt cornmeal made removing it a little difficult. Pain instantly set in and for the rest of the evening, I sat with an ice cube on my thumb attempting to relieve the pain. I now sport a small (too small for the pain I endured) blister as a reminder of this clumsiness.
Why am I sharing this with you? It gave me a stark reminder - hell is real. The Bible calls it a lake of fire where there is no relief. The pain I endured for a pencil eraser size burn doesn't even compare to the pain that will be endured by those who choose to make hell their eternal destination.
Matthew calls it an everlasting fire - one from which no ice cube will provide relief. Can you imagine living for all eternity in a fire that never consumes, just tortures?
In addition to the pain from the fire, those in hell will also be separated from God's presence. The protection provided to us through our lives by God will no longer be available as we will weep, wail, and suffer other tortures.
No imagery that I can provide will give even a small glimpse of this. Even standing near a bonfire, the hottest one you can imagine, can provide the truth of how hot hell will truly be.
So then, why do we go about our lives from day to day with no real care for those who are lost and bound for this all too real place? We stand idly on the sidelines of their lives seeing how they make the wrong choice about their eternity without so much as a peep of sharing God's love with them.
Well, as an old preacher once said, as long as there is breath, there is hope.
Share that hope with someone who needs it. Just one more soul will make it all worth the while
C
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1 Comment
Thank you Cindy! I too have been burned and thought the exact same thing about those in hell or on the road there. They would give anything for just one drop of water. I think about wasted water when I brush my teeth and now and have been for a long time turning the water off as I am doing this. They cannot go back and undo where they are. It's so sad they only want one little drop and we flush the toilet with no thought. We need to no longer just stand on the sidelines but tell them of the love of Christ.