Pieces of Coal.

Imagine we are are pieces of coal.

 To have the knowledge of Jesus is to be a piece of coal, to have the Holy Spirit is to start to glow and provide warmth. A lit coal cannot help but excite another coal to start glowing by proximity. To share the gospel with the lips is to turn pieces of earth into pieces of coal. To share the gospel from the heart is to turn turn pieces of coal into pieces of glowing embers that provide comfort and warmth in a cold and hurting world. 

Is Hell Our Own Making?

I think hell is a product of our own making and choices.

 If we choose not to let Jesus live and reign in our hearts and bodies (our earthly temple) then God will respect that choice. When we breathe our last and enter the next world, whatever is in our heart here will still be in our heart there. If God is not in our heart, we will face eternity without God. And that is hell.

 If God is all that is good, then whatever is evil is all that remains. And that is hell.

 Much like when you extract all the light out of a room, all that is left is darkness. 

  When Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, he feared something so terrible that he sweat drops of blood. Yes, he fully understood what manner of death he was going to die and how terribly he was to suffer. But he also knew that for a period of time his Father would forsake him, as on the cross he cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

 And in that moment Jesus knew what it felt like to be in the total absence of God. And that, my friends, is hell.