BOOKS vs Book
“…and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.”
One day, your time here on earth will come to an end. You will die and return to the One who created you, to give an account of how you lived your life. Everything you have ever done since the day you were born is recorded. There is no falsification, no missing information. The books will be opened. These books contain the full record of how you lived—your actions, your choices, and who you lived your life to please. “And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”
Then there is another book: the Book of Life. This is the most important book of all. Only those whose sins have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb will find their names written in it. Their names are not there because they qualified by their own efforts, but because they believed in and accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary over 2,000 years ago. “And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” This is the final judgment for those who rejected salvation through Jesus Christ. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
No matter how long or short our lives may be on earth, it is nothing compared to eternity. How you will spend eternity is entirely dependent on the decisions you make here on earth.
My pastor often shares a story during funeral services in my local church here in Nigeria. A young man once heard of an old, wise sage living in another town and decided to test his wisdom to mock him. He caught a butterfly and held it between his fingers. His plan was simple: he would ask the sage whether the butterfly in his hand was dead or alive. If the sage said it was alive, he would crush it. If he said it was dead, he would release it. When the young man finally met the sage, he asked, “This butterfly in my hand— is it dead or alive?” The wise sage replied, “The butterfly is in your hands.”
In the same way, our lives and our eternal destiny are in our hands.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” Everyone—rich or poor, young or old—will stand before God.
Is your name in The Book of Life?
