My friend, you’ve got the sequence and the logic a little off. You cannot simply seek forgiveness after dying, having lived how you wanted. You can’t even lead a “good life”.
Good in whose eyes?
You won’t be able to negotiate for forgiveness with the King of the universe once you’re dead. Our life here is a gift from God. When your dormant spirit is reanimated by the Holy Spirit, by receiving the Son, you will want to do the will of God, rather than indulge your whims. It is a pure joy to be in fellowship with the Prince of Peace and to dedicate our life to fulfilling God’s will on Earth, as it has already been declared in heaven. Here’s the backstory. The Creator God has a plan; He is intentional and strategic.
God created this universe as a 3-dimensional colony of heaven, His Kingdom’s headquarters. He formed man’s body from the newly created place, Earth, but then breathed His Spirit into Adam’s nostrils. This indwelling spirit would serve as a modem to transmit God’s desires and man’s requests from heaven to Earth, back and forth. He gave governing authority to His greatest creation, mankind (“Let us make man in our own image…” and “let them have dominion“). The Lord rightfully expected a loving, collaborative relationship with His Governor, Adam. We originally had immense liberty to run the colony as we wanted because the Lord could count on us to follow His developmental strategy. God operates a Kingdom, not a religion.
It all blew up when Adam sinned. He had been warned not to eat the fruit of only one freaking tree on planet Earth. However, he believed a lie, spoken by God’s sworn enemy, Satan. This rebellious act severed man’s relationship with His maker. It was an egregious act, and we’ve been suffering for it ever since.
Thousands of years later, fast forward to Moses, an 80-year old fugitive from Pharaoh’s homicide police. This shepherd is called to negotiate with the sovereign of Egypt to release 3 million Jews being held as slaves. The goal was to launch a brilliant redemption strategy. Liberate these folks, let Pharoah capitalize their new venture, and send them on a trek to a new homeland known as Israel. God would serve as their King, guiding the nation as He spoke through His judges and prophets until the time when the true Messiah would arrive.
If you want to understand the supernatural authority of Adam, simply look at Moses. He commanded flies, locusts and frogs to assemble. He turned the Nile River’s water into blood. Using the rod of God, he parted the Red Sea. Impressive. After their liberation, the Jews then received the Law of Moses, which served as a framework for the new government of Israel. It also provided a body of principles that exposed and mitigated our sinful condition. God himself planned to govern the new nation of Israel. Years later, instead of trusting God to continue ruling their emerging nation, the people demanded a king – a sovereign who would govern them in place of the Lord. This request had mixed results — David was a great king; Ahab not so much.
Over the next 10 centuries, the prophets spoke about a coming Messiah – an astounding individual who would offer redemption to all of mankind. In addition, he would re-introduce God’s original Kingdom governance. Isaiah writes, “and the government is on His shoulder.” This passage describes Jesus’ primary goal: to craft a pathway for mankind to establish rule and reign over God’s creation once again. During his three. year missionary assignment, Jesus said: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matt 6:33) Just before his departure, He added: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt 24:14).
Now, some of us believe that Jesus is the only pathway to righteousness. That gift has been offered through the shed blood of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I admire your curiosity. Now, find a Bible-believing, Kingdom-minded person (rare) who will walk you through a deeper understanding of these principles. Receive the free gift of salvation and redemption offered solely by the sacrificial life of Christ. His blood is sinless, making you and I sinless as well. Then, begin detecting and implementing your role in advancing His Kingdom.
May the Lord bless your search for Him, my friend.
Explore Other Topics
I did, although I would prefer to exchange the phrase “religious person” for “spiritual believer.” Religion is man’s attempt to prove himself to God. It separates and objectifies others. It controls adherents by requiring ritualized performance. Religion is a ‘Tower of Babel’ attempt to justify ourselves to God. But what
During His ministry, many witnesses attested to Christ’s compassionate works and selfless motives. Despite several attempts to build a fictitious case against Him, the religious authorities could not succeed. Being guiltless, Jesus never displayed a defensive attitude nor evidence of His innocence. Only when asked a direct question did He
In considering the merits of various economic systems, we run the risk of arguing from man’s history back to God’s intent. We may even be caught examining our historical abuse and religious mismodeling of God’s intentions and then demanding legal protection from our own foolishness. This would be deductive reasoning
Certain men are born with big, self-sufficient personalities. They are wired to win and to lead, not merely to participate. Some apply these qualities in competitive athletics, politics, business pursuits, scientific discovery, or the military. They are larger-than-life men like Joshua who was told by God:
In this era man has rapidly transferred his allegiance and devotion away from God and toward himself. As in Babel, Sodom, ancient Israel, and ancient Greece, man has begun afresh to worship his own image. In a fit of narcissism, he has displaced the living God as the central focus
In ancient mythology, Ulysses needed to navigate the passageway between Italy and Sicily, the strait guarded by two deadly, intimidating threats — Scylla and Charybdis. On the one side lay rocky shoals — certain to rip the hull out of one’s ship. These rocks were guarded by a terrible, six-headed
