How you see Jesus determines your destiny

How you see Jesus is the most important choice you will ever make.  

Here's the question every person has to answer: "What will I do with Jesus?"

You have only two choices: You can accept him as Lord and Savior or reject him. Ignoring him is not an option. Ignoring him is the same as rejecting him.  

For single people, this choice makes all the difference in the world. Accepting him puts you on the path to healing, holiness, salvation, and eternal life. Rejecting him leads to selfishness, sin, and self-destruction.

Here's the uncomfortable truth. God does not send anyone to hell. A person chooses that option himself or herself. You can't get to heaven by being a good person, no matter what you've been told. Jesus himself says he is the one and only way.

If you're not already a Christian you may want to stop reading right now. But denying the truth doesn't make it go away. This is a question you must deal with.  

Do you see Jesus or do you ignore him?

My pastor is fond of saying we're all searching for the God who will give us the best deal. For most people, that "god" is one who will let us do whatever we like with no consequences.  

But what a pathetic God that would be. He would have no standards. He wouldn't care what happened to you. Worst of all, he wouldn't really love you. 

When you see Jesus accurately, as the Bible portrays him, you encounter a being so magnetic, so attractive that he simply cannot be ignored. The better you get to know him, the more you want of him.  

In a very real sense, this Savior is a problem. Many singles wish he'd simply go away so they can do their own thing. They don't want to know him. That's the nature of sin. It's more concerned about satisfying our own selfish desires than following God's desires for you.  

Satan, whom Jesus called "the father of lies," wants us to believe there are no consequences to sin. Satan especially lures single people with that thought, the old "if it feels good, do it" excuse.

You can almost hear him laughing in hell as singles sink into a life of misery and degradation because they did their own thing.

And make no mistake, Satan is real. Jesus assured us of that.

Do you see Jesus as a spoilsport?

Let's face it: Jesus gets in the way. He gets in the way of lying to make more money, he gets in the way of abusing our body with drugs, and he gets in the way of one-night stands. Today's society tells us Christ's morals are irrelevant, the product of ancient times.  

If you're a divorced or widowed single and you've raised children, you know you can't let them run wild and do whatever they want. They become brats. They have no respect for other people or for the law. Eventually they'll bring serious trouble down on themselves.  

Spiritually speaking, we're all children. Even as adults, we're not mature enough on our own to know how to behave. That's why God laid down rules. Once you see the Ten Commandments as instructions for how to stay out of trouble instead of restrictive orders, your life will never be the same. How you see Jesus will begin to change.  

I want to be clear on this: We can't get to heaven by works, that is, by slavish obedience to the Ten Commandments. The reason is obvious. None of us are capable of obeying them. I can't and you can't. We have an inescapable sinful nature that keeps leading us in the wrong direction.

Do you see Jesus as your Savior?

Do you believe in heaven? Do you think it's a real place? Do you expect to see your deceased loved ones there some day?  

Before you can get to heaven, you need to see Jesus on the cross and understand what it means. Most of us don't want to look at the cross. It's become almost meaningless in our society, with athletes and celebrities wearing it around their neck as a fashion statement. We want to forget the terrible price Jesus paid to save us from our sins. 

When you think of his sacrifice, you're shocked that he did it for one reason: Love. It's a terrifying thing. The Creator of the entire universe loves you so much that he went through torture and death to save you from your sins because you can't save yourself.  

Nobody else has ever loved you that much and no one ever will. If you're a thinking person, you come to realize the unpayable debt you owe Christ. Because he did all this through grace, a free gift, you not only don't have to pay it back, you can't pay it back.  

So how do you see Jesus? If you don't know him or feel lukewarm about him, I suggest you start reading the gospels and the letters of Paul. Go to a church in your community. Talk to a minister. Or ask a Christian you know to explain salvation to you.  

This is the most important decision you will ever make. Your very life and eternal future depend on it.