1.) FIRST THIS HAPPENS:
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
2.) IT LEADS TO THIS:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
3.) AND RESULTS IN THIS:
…“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
4.) ABSENT #1 and #2, THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE IS THIS:
So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:49-50). And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched’ (Mark 9:47-8).
5.) IF YOU’RE NOT LIVING #2, DECEIVING YOURSELF ABOUT #3, AND TRYING TO DENY #4, PRAY FOR #1. PERSIST TILL EFFICACIOUS:
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7). All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out (John 6:37).
A SKEPTIC’S PRAYER:
God, if you are there, I just want you to know I don’t get it. John 3:16 sounds wonderful, but I can’t wrap my mind around it. A few verses earlier you said I must be “born again” before I can see and understand such things, and that just blows my mind. I had no control over my first birth!
I’ve made so many mistakes in my life that a supernatural do-over certainly has appeal. If you are real, God, and nothing really is impossible for you, then open my eyes to your reality. I want to believe that Jesus was who he said he was, that he was crucified to save me (!) from my sins (?) because he loved me so much before I was even born, but that is beyond my comprehension. What manner of love is this? I want to be one of those “whoever’s” who sincerely believe in your Son and have eternal life in that heavenly place with one who loves me that much, but you’re going to have to work a major transformation of my mind.
If belief in you is a gift from you, would you please give it to me? I come weary, loaded down with skepticism, a dearth of understanding, a gnawing, confusing emptiness somewhere deep inside, and stark terror at the thought that a fiery furnace in hell might be my eternal destiny. If you could remedy all this in some miraculous way, I would be forever grateful. Here am I. Change me.