I admit, this is not a popular topic. Not in this day and age. No matter how you pepper it with soft, comfortable words, hell is a place that will always signal horror, regret, damnation and eternal suffering to each of us. There are things that we don’t see – but oh how we feel it. And its effects extend to our physical, financial, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual life.
We are all bound by chains.
These aren’t your ordinary set of chains. These chains are special.
Yep.
Tailor-made for you and me.
There’s one thing in common with our chains though – they are all hard, steel-borne chains that hold us down.
They tighten when we fight against them. They grow sharper each time we struggle to break free.
They make us bleed.
These chains come in the form of secrets, addictions, habits – things that we’d like to keep in the dark.
They enslave us.
“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” – John 8:34
We lift our hands and we see our wrists bound.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” – Romans 7:15
Then there’s that lock.
The lock that keeps the chains in-tact.
For a long while, the only keys to that lock is death
“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” – Romans 7:24
Once the lock is opened, there are only two possibilities:
An eternity of suffering and bondage to fire and sulfur – an excruciatingly painful replacement
Or
Freedom. In heaven – where the chains will never bind you.
Now, I bring you unbelievably good news: Our Lord Jesus Christ has the other key.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1
Christ sets us free – and isn’t it a wonderful freedom? So much so that we, in our joy are compelled to give Him ourselves?
“For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave.” – 1 Corinthians 7:22
If you think it ends there, it doesn’t. We have just been upgraded to the Son/Daughter of the greatest being in the Universe.
“So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” – Galatians 4:7
Don’t believe the lies. There is a choice that is laid out before you. We can be bound by these tailor-made chains or we can choose Christ and be set free.
There is a place where the chains won’t bind you. Heaven is real.
The answer is obvious – choose freedom. Choose Christ.
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” – Romans 10:9-10
It can’t get any simpler than that.
This is your freedom. Paid with the heaviest price – the blood and death of an innocent man. An innocent God. Our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the end, the choice is yours. Set yourself free.
