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Death

What an Astronaut Teaches Us About Eternity

Youth Devotion on Eternity

Eternity can be a pretty scary thing to think about. What happens after death? How do we know if we will go to heaven? What about this life on the Earth. What does it mean? Questions, Questions, Questions. And sometimes it might feel like its hard to know the right answers to these questions. So, we’ve designed this devotion to help bring some clarity to the mystery of eternity.

First of all, what is eternity? According to Merriam-Webster, it’s time without an end or a state that comes after death and never ends. Great, so what? Well, eternity is something that God is, God is eternal. He has no beginning or end. He was for eternity past and will be for eternity future. But what does that mean for us?

Well, knowing all this helps us understand who we are better. See if God is eternal, and we are made in the image of God, that means that we are eternal and spirit beings as well.

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. – Genesis 1:27 (NLT)

So if we’re eternal spirit beings like God, what does this mean for us when we die? Well, that’s where our good friend the astronaut helps us out. See astronauts are able to travel beyond the earth and explore space. And when astronauts are exploring space, many times they wear a spacesuit.

Their spacesuit is really awesome! It helps them be able to survive in outer space. It helps them perform experiments and learn about things outside of earth.

In the same way astronauts wear spacesuits, we wear bodies here on earth. Our body helps us live and function here on the earth. When we die, if we’ve accepted Jesus as our Lord, our spirit leaves our body and goes to heaven to spend eternity with God. Just like the astronaut takes off his spacesuit when he is no longer in space, when we die, we take off our ‘earth suit’ or body and go to be with the Lord.

We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from this body and to live with the Lord.  – 2 Cor 5:8 (NIV)

When we die, we don’t stop existing. Our spirit simply leaves our body and goes to either heaven or hell, depending on whether we’ve made Jesus the Lord of our life. And just like the astronaut takes off his spacesuit when he’s done exploring outer space, when we die, we take off our body, and the real us, our spirit goes to be with the Lord.

This is great news for people who’ve accepted Jesus. They can know that when they die they go to heaven and be with the Lord. So the next time you see a picture of an astronaut, let it be a reminder of how one day we will get to spend eternity with the Lord.

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Help! I Lost a Loved One

Dealing with the loss of a loved oneLosing a person you love is never easy. When someone you love passes away, it is a very tough thing. You’re hit with so many emotions. Some people get angry, while others feel sad. Some feel guilty or blame themselves when something bad happens. There are tons of emotions that come when you are faced with the loss of someone you love.

So how do you channel those feelings of sadness, loss or even anger? Here are a few things I learned when I was faced with the loss of a loved one a few years ago.

  1. Don’t let it affect your relationship with God. This was the biggest mistake I made in my time of loss. I had lots of questions about why the person I loved died. I didn’t understand. I was mad and let my unanswered questions hurt my relationship with God.
    When a loved one passes away, you’re bound to have questions. You may even want to blame God for what happened. However, no matter how many questions you have or how mixed up you feel inside, God is not to blame. Don’t allow your questions to keep you from going to God for help and healing in this tough time.
  2. Recovering from loss takes time. Losing a loved one is not something you just ‘get over’. It takes time. It will take time for you to feel okay. You might experience tons of difficult emotions, that’s okay. You might be faced with your family or life just not feeling right or normal anymore. That is okay too. It will take time for you to heal. Don’t be upset if you’re not feeling like yourself for awhile.
    Losing someone you love is a big deal and it takes time for you to recover.
  3. Get help if you need it. Sometimes you need to talk to someone about your loss. You might have a lot of emotions that you need to work through. Its okay to get some help. Go to a pastor or a counselor at your school. These people are trained to help you process your grief in healthy ways. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.

Losing a loved one is a big deal. However, you can take comfort in the fact that God is always there for you. He’s there to help you heal. You can put your trust in Him. He will be your strength and anchor when things get tough. Look to him to be what grounds you when dealing with the loss of someone you love.

We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure. – Hebrews 6:19 (Holman)

Why, God, Why?: What to Do When Life Doesn’t Make Sense
This is a powerful book that will help you deal with the questions you face when dealing with the loss of a loved one.

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Toast – What Happens When You Die?

Have you ever left toast in the toaster for too long? Maybe you got distracted and went back to check the toaster only to find that you had burnt the snot out of your toast? The only thing it is good for now is being used as a hockey puck. Burnt toast tastes just plain nasty.

Devotion for Teens on Life after death and hellBurnt toast can sort of show us what happens when we die. See, when we die, we go to one of two places: Heaven or Hell. And the choice of where we go is up to us. It’s just a matter of choosing Jesus to be your savior or not. For those who don’t choose Jesus, they go to hell. Essentially, they become burnt toast.

And there are lots of ideas out there about what hell is like. Some people think its a party and they’ll spend all their time hanging out with friends and living the party lifestyle. Unfortunately, they’re wrong. Hell isn’t a party. Its a horrible place. The Bible describes it like this:

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]…throwing the wicked into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” – Matthew 13:50[/quote]

When described this way, hell doesn’t sound like a party. It sounds like there’s going to be people crying and grinding their teeth together. Totally not the party with friends that people are talking about!

Even though hell is not a fun place, the good news is that you do not have to go there, you don’t have to become burnt toast. If you decide to make Jesus the Lord of your life you can spend eternity with Him in heaven. Which will be way more fun! Choose to accept what Jesus did for you and ask Him to be the Lord of your life.

To get started, pray this prayer:
“Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I believe that Jesus is your son. I believe that He died on the cross to take the punishment for my sins. I accept Jesus right now as my Lord and savior. I ask Him to come into my heart and to be the Lord of my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

If you prayed this prayer, and meant it, Jesus is now your savior, the Lord of your life. And you will now go to heaven when you die…so there go the worries about being burnt toast! Your next steps should be getting plugged into a local church that preaches the Bible and also getting your hands on a Bible to begin getting to know this Jesus who is now the Lord or boss of your life!!

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What Google Maps has to Say About Life After Death

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Using Google maps can be kind of addicting. Its so much fun to be able to punch in a location and instantly see what is located near it and the best way is to get there.

We can use Google maps as an illustration to answer a question that lots of people have, “Why Would a loving God send someone to hell when they die?” This a really good question. If we see in the Bible that God is good and loves everyone, why does He allow people go to hell?

I think Google maps can help us answer that question. When you use Google maps, it asks you to pick a destination. Google maps doesn’t automatically fill in a destination for you or choose for you where you should go. Rather it lets you choose and make a decision where you want to go. That is exactly what God does. God doesn’t send anyone to hell and doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. But He doesn’t force an eternal destination on us. He leaves it up to us to choose.

We can choose to follow after God and accept that Jesus is the son of God, making Him The Lord of our lives. Or we can choose to ignore Jesus and not accept Him as The Lord of our lives. That choice determines our eternal destination.

Romans 3:25 –For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding His blood.

Just like getting directions from Google maps, we have to decide in life our eternal destination. Choose to make heaven your destination by making Jesus to be The Lord of your life.

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