"What Is My Eternal Destiny?"

Victory Can Be Yours!

Article #41 – “What is My Eternal Destiny?”

            A few weeks ago, we began with three questions every person must answer.  The first was where did I come from?  The answer; we were created by God.  The second question was what is my purpose?  The answer; exalt Jesus Christ in everything that we say or do.  The third question is what is my eternal destiny?  The answer to this question is also a simple one.

            In the beginning, when God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed life into him and placed him in the Garden of Eden, man was perfect.  He was made in the image of God.  That did not mean that man had the same appearance as God but was like God in many ways even though imperfect and finite.  Some of those attributes were; personality, truth, wisdom, love, holiness, justice, and the capacity for spiritual fellowship with Him.  He was also given the free will to make choices.  One of his first choices was to disobey the only commandment that God had given him, “The Lord God commanded the man saying, ‘from any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.’” (Gen. 2:16, 17)  Adam had the free will to choose as he wished, and he made the wrong choice.  He, through this one act of disobedience, broke his fellowship with God.  He no longer was able to walk and talk freely with God.  He fell from the grace of God and fell into sin and separation from God with no way or path of reconciliation.  Every person born of the seed of Adam since then is born into a world of sin and death separated from God for eternity.  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23)  Paul goes on to say that the penalty for our sin is death, “For the wages of sin is death,” (Rom. 6:23a)  Therefore, man finds himself in dire straits, destined for an eternity of condemnation and torment and desperately needs to be saved.

            “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 5:8; 6:23)  Jesus came as a babe in a manger, a babe that is both God and man, the only person with no sin in His life because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.  Since He was not born of the seed of Adam, He did not have to die for His own sins because He has none.  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21)  God has given us a way back to Him, a way to be reconciled and change our eternal destiny.  But, we have this free will to choose between Heaven and Hell.  What choice will you make, if you haven’t already?  Every man must answer, what is my eternal destiny?

                        You, too, can have victory in Jesus!  We will discuss what the end result of our choice will be next week.

Lowell Parrish