Faith Forum ~ Me? Live Forever?! By Gloria Wessner

You've got to be kidding! No one lives forever, everyone dies! Wouldn't it be great if you really could? Why is it that so many people try to look as young as they can, and often spend tens of thousands of dollars on surgery or hundreds and thousands on creams, lotions and Botox? There are very few people who look forward to growing old, mainly because they know it brings them closer to the end of life when we all know life will end someday, something none of us can escape.
It's true our bodies will constantly get older and more decrepit and eventually give out. But it's also true that the real us, the real 'you,' will live forever. Where we end up at the end of life, no matter what age we may be, is determined by the choices we make in this life.
God's word talks of people ending up at one of two places at the end of life. One such part from His word goes as follows:
The Rich Man and Lazarus
"There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man's table. His best friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores.
"Then he died, this poor man, and was taken up by the angels to the lap of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell and in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus in his lap. He called out, 'Father Abraham, mercy! Have mercy! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool my tongue. I'm in agony in this fire.'
"But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It's not like that here. Here he's consoled and you're tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from you to us.'
"The rich man said, 'Then let me ask you, Father: Send him to the house of my father where I have five brothers, so he can tell them the score and warn them so they won't end up here in this place of torment.'
"Abraham answered, 'They have Moses and the Prophets to tell them the score. Let them listen to them.'
"'I know, Father Abraham,' he said, 'but they're not listening. If someone came back to them from the dead, they would change their ways.'
"Abraham replied, 'If they won't listen to Moses and the Prophets, they're not going to be convinced by someone who rises from the dead.'" (Luke 16: 19-31 The Message)
The piece above talks of hell and heaven, and the environment and tone of each is shown here. The piece below talks of choice, and what the result of that choice can be.
The Narrow Gate
“You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life (and heaven) is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it." (Matthew 7:13,14 NLT (parenthesis mine)
The great thing is that God, with wide open arms, invites us in all his boundless amount of love to come, to make the choice of becoming a member of his forever family. If we do that, and agree with him to let him walk along beside us in this life as we let him lead us in the kind of life HE wants us to live (I give up the right to live my life as I please) – then He promises we will be with Him at the end of this life and live in his home (Heaven) forever. It's not easy to give the reins of your life over to someone else. But, in this case, His way is perfect, and He only has in mind what is best for you. Hard times will come, but the difference is that you have the One who loves you perfectly to walk beside you and guide you – so you are never truly alone.
So, yes! It can be you! And live forever, too!
Readers are invited to write Gloria at: gloriawes@hotmail.com