“If you don’t know where you are going, you might end up someplace else” Yogi Berra

The question is where do you think are you going when you die? The atheist would answer, “nowhere”, the agnostic would answer. “I really can’t tell you, but somewhere”, the sinner encapsulated in a false church/world religion would answer, “I can only hope if I do enough religious works and good deeds, it will be heaven”, and only the Christian saved by grace alone through faith alone would answer “there isn’t a single doubt in my mind, I am going to heaven to live eternally with my Savior, Jesus Christ”.

If you believe the atheist answer of “nowhere” isn’t a bit troubling, you are probably an atheist. That this life is all there is? My view is even the atheist internally wonders “what happens after this”, because Romans 1:20 says that God has made Himself known through His creation.

Externally the atheist might be quite proud of this their “faith” that this is all there is, but if they were honest, internally they are asking that question, “where am I going after this?” Why you may ask? Because if you view their utter disdain for any religion, the nature to this is a tell of that internal struggle going on. If you were 100 percent confident in your atheist faith, logic would say you wouldn’t protest any religion. You might protest the imposing of religious precepts on you, but NOT because they were helping you live your best life now by logical moral virtue. But this is not what we see from atheists, it generally is an overall zeal to squash any logical moral virtue from God because of that internal question.

Agnostics and sinners encapsulated in a world religion have a similar answer to “where are you going after this life?”, and it is “I really can’t be certain”. There is this knowledge from good vs. evil, and the insecure hope that is if there is a God, they can tip the scales of justice in their favor. It is the idea that if I live the most external virtuous moral life, and those in a world religion being the most religious, that this will be my ticket into Paradise. Various jokes are made about the Apostle Peter standing before the “Pearly Gates”, and he being the gate keeper to allow one into heaven or send them to hell, which would make Peter sovereign over God in this mentality influenced by Satan. It might be just a joke, but the joke is a tell, the sinner as this is NOT placing their faith in Jesus Christ, but in themselves and humanism. So there is no assurance, just a vain hope that God sees me as a “good person” enough to allow me entry into heaven.

A Christian saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone, is always going to be externally and internally confident that their next stop is heaven! Those in the other category of a world religion I described would call this “cocky” and “arrogant” and “presumptuous” because they are misinterpreting the boast. A Christians KNOWS they are going to heaven NOT by ANY boast in themselves, but ONLY in the boast of Jesus Christ! Because their faith is in Him alone, there can be 100 percent confidence! Jesus was perfectly obedient to His death on the Cross, perfectly righteous, perfect in every way as the promised Savior. We are imperfect in every way so it is absolutely plausible to be completely confident that the Christian is always heaven bound because the Christian KNOWS with an ounce of doubt that Jesus paid for their entire sin debt, they stand forgiven, justified, redeemed, here and right now! Not because they were worthy, but because Jesus is!

Take stock in your faith now, and ask what category are you in? WHERE ARE YOU GOING AFTER THIS LIFE?