"Velvet Elvis"-DAY ELEVEN

Here is my interpretation of Chapter Six of "Velvet Elvis":

There are Christians out there that struggle with certain sins and temptations. The problem is that even though they realize they're sinners saved by grace, they let the fact that they're sinners make them feel like they'll never be able to overcome it. Since they feel weighed down and hopeless, they'll keep falling prey to the same sins.

I'm just as guilty of this as anybody else! It's a struggle all of us face. As Christians, we need to realize that when we gave our lives to Jesus, we put off the old sinful nature and try our best to become more like him. He is making us into a new creation, and we have to be able to let him do his job. We're not going to get things right 100 percent of the time, but we have to rely on the grace and mercy we receive from Jesus, start again, and try not to get wrapped up in the sin that entangles us.

Each human being is given a choice of which kind of life they want to lead. They can choose to follow God or reject him...it's that simple. All human beings are offered the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. It's all a matter of whether we accept it or not. Listen to how Rob Bell describes this choice.

"Heaven is full of forgiven people. Hell is full of forgiven people. Heaven is full of people God loves, whom Jesus died for. Hell is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for. The difference is how we choose to live, which story we choose to live in, which version of reality we trust. Ours or God's."

Basically, what Bell is saying here is the difference between people in Heaven and people in Hell all comes down to whether or not they accepted the forgiveness and salvation that was offered to them. The ones in Hell (as Bell puts it) chose a reality of their own making instead of God's.

Rick Warren has said that life on Earth is a dress rehearsal for eternity. That kept popping into my head as Bell talked about Heaven and Hell being present realities.

"For Jesus, heaven and hell were present realities. Ways of living we can enter into here and now. He talked very little of the life beyond this one because he understood that the life beyond this one is a continuation of the kinds of choices we make here and now. For Jesus, the question wasn't, how do I get into Heaven? but how do I bring heaven here? The question wasn't, how do I get in there? But how do I get there, here?"

Think about the times you've turned on the TV and seen footage of the damage left behind by various disasters (the flooding in Nashville, the earthquake in Haiti, the rubble left behind after a suicide bombing in Iraq). This is Hell on earth. Bell says there's also Hell on earth where poverty, injustice, and suffering exist. As Christians, we need to fight these things because that's what Jesus would want us to do.

When we do acts of kindness as a representative of Jesus, we are bringing Heaven to earth. Think about the times you may have mowed a yard for someone who couldn't do it themselves. How about a time when you helped in an extensive home repair project? If you've done it to the least of these, you've done it for Jesus, and you have brought Heaven to earth.

Life on earth is a dress rehearsal for eternity. If you bring Heaven to earth by believing in Jesus and being the best witness that you can possibly be, you will be with Him for eternity in a new Heaven and a new Earth (Revelation 20-21).

(One more chapter to go!! Thanks for reading!)