Bribe Me Out Of Hell

Lately I have been trying very hard to bring my friends to church. It seems that every week I turn to them and just ask them the same six words; "Wanna come to church with me?" some are easily persuaded, and some require a little more work. And as I struggle to reach out to my friends, I start to forget why I am inviting them. So I sit down and think. A good portion of them do not know Christ. What does this mean? HELL. If they die, they are going to Hell. There's no way around it. Hell. Eternal suffering. Total separation from God. Forever.I don't think that we truly realize what Hell is. So I am going to try as best I can to draw a quick picture of what it's like.

You lay on the floor, surrounded by darkness and silence. There is nothing around you, and you cannot even see two feet in front of you. You hear an unwholesome screeching in your ears as you feel claws tearing away at your flesh. Then you are burned. Your entire body is engulfed in fire. You feel your flesh burn off your bones. You try to scream, but nothing emerges from your mouth. You cry out to God, but He is not there. He will never be there. No one can help you. The fire will burn away at your body forever. Hell is infinite. Which means you will be there alone forever. suffering through the pain and torture on your own. God will not be with you. You can't pray to him. it's too late. There is no more hope for you.

That is what I believe Hell is like. Now, after I thought about this, I got scared. I was scared for my friends. I would lay down at night and feel this stress and anxiety tearing away at my soul. So I kept asking my friends to come. Though some of them came around, most of them rejected my offer. So I kept getting more and more worried. Eventually, whenever I heard an ambulance, my heart started racing. 'I can't let my friends go to Hell!'

I began to use different approaches to get my friends to go. I offered them money, time, etc. But they still rejected it. It took a long time, but I realized what my fault was; I wasn't letting God speak through me. I was not listening to him, but rather, I was trying to bribe them with idols. So, instead of going to church, seeking God, they were going to church for Counterfeit Gods. I can't bribe them out of Hell.

The point of this blog is this; If you are having trouble with convincing your friends to go to church, don't worry. Keep asking them. Put the opportunity in their lap, and let God do His thing. Because we aren't the ones reaching out to them. God is.