A Paid Up Eternal Life Policy

A paid up eternal life insurance policy
Legendary sports announcer Ernie Harwell recently announced that he has been diagnosed with incurable bile duct cancer, but has decided against surgery or other medical treatment. He is ‘looking forward to this next adventure’.
Harwell stated that, because he trusts in Jesus Christ, he has no doubt that he is going to Heaven when dies. A friend mentioned that Harwell must be delusional, because no one can know for certain that they will get to Heaven. It’s all in God’s hands.
I explained to my friend that, like Harwell, I, too, hold a paid-up ’eternal life insurance policy’. This opened up a lively debate. My friend stated that, because of our sin, we deserve to go to Hell, so we must do all the good we can in order to balance the scale. Then, when we stand before God, He will weigh the evidence of sin against the good life we have lived, and then decide whether we go to Heaven or Hell. No one can know for sure until that day.
My friend is a Christian. He believes in Jesus and knows that He died to pay for his sins, but seems to stop trusting in Christ at that point. I explained that, according to the Bible, he may be missing a vital part of the Good News of the Gospel. I read from Romans, which says that “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ…”
If eternal life is a gift, how can we earn it? We certainly do not deserve it, and only one sin can condemn us to Hell. God is just, therefore He must punish sin. But, in His love for us, He wants us to spend eternity with Him in Paradise. In His ultimate wisdom, He solved the problem of punishing our sin and sparing us from Hell by sending His own son to earth as a human, to live a perfect life and be the perfect sacrifice as payment for all sin.
We humans cannot be good enough to work our way to Heaven We do good because of our love for Him, but Christ has done it all, on the cross. When Jesus said, “It is finished”, it meant that He did not leave our salvation undone, nor did He leave salvation steps for us to work out. Death and sin were conquered on the cross, and eternity is a free gift from God, Himself.
My friend thought that sounded too easy. I explained that our human nature tells us that we are somehow responsible for our salvation, but that we won’t know for sure until we stand before God. The Bible says that, when God looks upon those who are covered with the blood of Christ, He won’t see our sin, but only the forgiveness we have received through Jesus Christ.
I asked my friend to read from 1st John, which says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” I pointed out that it did not say that you might hope, or guess; but that you may know… We read a few other Scripture passages that point to this free gift. I explained that it is like having a paid up, irrevocable ‘eternal life’ insurance policy, offered freely by a risen Savior. We then prayed together, and he asked Christ to come into his life and thanked Him for the free gift of eternal life. I praise God for providing me the training to be prepared to share His Good News when the opportunity arises.