Jun 23, 2017
by Daniel Lovelace
Hell. It’s a very real and significant place that the Word speaks about, our culture laughs about, preachers preach about, and many people don’t really think about. We, the Church, even have all kinds of ideas and opinions about hell. For the sake of focus, I’ll set my definition of hell as basically being a place which is separated from God, and cut off from His life and goodness. I want to make the case that to some degree, I believe that it’s common for Christians to live in another type of hell.
Now what do I mean when I say that Christians might live in hell? I mean that to the degree that believers come to a place of not resting in the work of Christ is the degree that they pull themselves away from receiving and living from the goodness and graciousness of God towards them.
I had grown up my whole life in the church, and had seen it done and heard it explained as early as I can remember. Yet even so, it was only a little over a year ago that I realized how little I really understood and valued the sacrament of our Lord’s Supper, Communion. I decided to take 31 days to have communion personally in my devotional time, and each time study a passage that dealt with an aspect of Communion. I quickly ran out of the traditional passages to read on the topic, but gradually I realized something. Everything in our life relates to what Christ has done for us to reconcile us to God. As such, Communion — a remembrance of what Jesus has done — ties into every aspect of our lives, and thus all areas of Scripture. Communion is a celebration of the Gospel, that without Christ, we are cut off from the life, righteousness, and blessing of God. Within Christ, we are fully brought into those things, once and for all!
So coming back to hell. I believe that many Christians — looking to my own life experience first — commonly fall away from resting in the Truth of Communion. We fall away from looking to Jesus as our final Source of right standing with the Father, as our final Source of life, of victory over sin, of blessing, of wisdom, etc. We so easily place our focus on how well we’ve performed that week, what others think of us, how much we see God working through us, or whatever else. And in taking our focus off Jesus in a thing, our minds, hearts and lives sink into “hell” in that thing. We alienate ourselves from the goodness of God because in our heart we have made something other than Jesus to become the method of payment for it. Yet we will still understand that however good that payment may be, it is always still lacking.
“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book
of the Law, and do them.’”
— Galatians 3:10
What is it in your life or heart where you see “hell”? Where do you recognize that you are separated from, and need the work of God’s favor toward you or another? Further, how do you plan to remedy that? Is it through striving to bring yourself to a better place of earning and more receiving? If so, you will likely stay in that failing cycle — not because it isn’t paid for, but because you’re relying on the wrong payment.
The way out is in resting in the Truth of the Gospel. Know that in our Savior and Lord,
Jesus Christ, our payment is made. Jesus is the Savior from separation from God — yes,
for eternity — and in our lives today.
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
— Romans 10:4
