At school this week, we had a field trip to a play. Before we left, the kids and I were talking about appropriate behavior during plays and they were giving all kinds of suggestions and scenarios. One little boy raised his hand and said, “if we’re not good at the play, then we get to go to principal’s office.” (And no, I’m not a meanie and I have never sent a kid to principal’s office my whole 8 years of teaching, lol.) Something struck me when he said that and I told him that they wouldn’t “GET” to go, they would “HAVE” to go. There is a difference: to GET to do something is a privilege or fun. To HAVE to do something is because you’re made and often times having to do something isn’t fun.
Then I went to revival that night and the preacher was just a simple country preacher and he said, “We GET to go to Heaven.” I thought about that along with what I told the little boy. The fact that we GET to go to Heaven is such a privilege. It’s an honor and it’s ours for the taking. All we have to do is live for Him down here so that one day we can live with Him there! I don’t know about you, but that is so overwhelming to me when I think about it! That something that great is what I GET to do!
But on the other hand, if we don’t live for Him, we HAVE to go to Hell. We don’t GET to go there…you see it was never made for you or me. It was made specifically for the devil and his angels. The Bible says that Hell has enlarged itself, in other words, making room for all the people who are heading that way. What a scary and unsettling thought. We have the choice, and it is entirely ours to decide: whether we GET to go to Heaven or whether we HAVE to go to Hell. I know what my choice is, what’s yours?
“And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Matthew 25:33-34, 41 KJV
