What a wonderful world we live in. Everywhere we look there is beauty. My dad used to tell me — and I believed him because that’s what little girls do — that the Texas panhandle is the most beautiful place in the world. I agree it is gorgeous. The wide open spaces that allow you to see the big beautiful sky with its infinite color schemes and cloud formations. The sunset. The sunrise. It’s amazing.

Now that I’m older, I realize that my dad was just a little biased when it came to the panhandle. He still is. There are so many more places that are just as beautiful. In fact, there isn’t a single place on earth that couldn’t be described as beautiful. When we look up and beyond our own small planet, the beauty just expands into what appears to be a never ending display of planets, stars, comets, solar systems, etc. It is mind boggling how big it is. Its size is beyond our comprehension. It is more than any one person can take in during his lifetime.

That’s a sad thought. All this beauty — the bigness of the universe, the smallness of the microscopic lives our eyes can’t see on their own, the majestic mountains, the mesmerizing oceans, the colorful deserts — is too much for one person to take in. We are able to enjoy what comes our way or what we seek out but we cannot see it all or understand it all. Just when we are getting started to appreciate the beauty, the wonder, we begin to feel the effects living on this earth produce — poor eyesight, loss of hearing, less effective taste buds, weak muscles, brittle bones. And then it’s over.

Is this all there is? A few short years to ponder the meaning of life. A few short years to gain knowledge. A few short years to create the music, the art that expresses our admiration of all that is around us? Surely there is more. There are several different thoughts people have had over the years.

1. There are those who would tell us that this is all there is. We live. We die. We no longer cease to exist. Enjoy yourself now because this is it.

2. There are those who expect to continue living life as usual after death — living forever. The mummies of ancient Egypt and their tombs filled with everyday items, the Terracota Armies of Qin Shi Huang, Emperor of China, are evidence that these people believed there was more. They could go on living their life after they died if they followed the correct procedures. If they preserved their bodies and took with them everything they needed to survive.

3. There are those who believe we get a “do over”, reincarnated. After we die, we get to come back to finish whatever we didn’t get to accomplish. We get to continually do this until we have learned it all, done it all. After all, this magnificent world we live in couldn’t be all there is, so we must get to continually experience it, learning more and more each time — living forever.

4. There are those who strive to stretch their years as long as possible. Some have searched for the “fountain of youth”. Hoping that partaking of this fountain will keep them forever young — living forever. Others seek to stretch their years by improving the mind and the body. A relentless search for the perfect combination of diet, exercise, spiritual enlightenment and mental sharpness should keep the body young, thus extending life for an indefinite period of time.

5. Then there are those who believe in an afterlife. More than an afterlife — eternal life. These people believe they were created by an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent being who has always been and will always be.

Who is right? Are any of them right? Is there more to life than what we see? Why do we even ask these questions

The preacher in Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God has set eternity in our hearts. The One who created it all placed a yearning, a desire in each one of us to live forever. If we refuse to give into this yearning, we begin to think like those in the first example – there is nothing after death, no hope. Those described in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th example above feel that desire to live forever and strive to understand it with their own explanations. The widely different thoughts they have exhibit how small man thinks. We think in the physical. Life cannot go on after death without taking our things with us. Life after death must be just more of the same here on earth. These are the kinds of thoughts man has. Looking to himself for answers. Looking to the physical to explain the unexplainable.

Those who are not satisfied with man’s explanation of things look for the true answer. They realize that this beautiful, orderly world must have a greater purpose. There must be a reason we are here. It all must have started somewhere by someone. There must be a Creator who made it all. That’s a difficult concept for some. Believing in something or someone they cannot see. Believing that there is more than the physical. That there is someone that has always been and will always be. Our finite minds cannot comprehend it. We must have faith in an all powerful being. That being is the Almighty God.

Those who are described in the 5th example above believe in this one true God. They believe that God created them. They believe that He loves them. They believe that He wants them to all live with Him eternally. That He has given them the choice whether to live with Him or not. That they, because of that desire for eternity He placed in their hearts, will either choose to love, serve, obey and honor Him; or they, because they do not believe He exists, will choose to follow the explanations offered by others who do not believe. Those who believe, understand that God has prepared a place for those who will submit to His will. That the wonderful things He has prepared for them throughout eternity is better, more magnificent than anything that can be seen or experienced here on earth. As we are told in 1 Corinthians 2:9 “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

So it is up to us to answer the question. Not that our answer changes the reality. Just because we believe in reincarnation does not make it a reality. Just because we believe that once we die it is all over does not make it true. Truth is the same no matter what we choose to believe. But we do get to choose. We can choose to follow the almighty God. or we can choose to follow men.

It all boils down to faith in God, believing that He is and that He will reward those who follow Him (Heb 11:6). This can be scary. It can mean changing the way we’ve thought our whole lives. It can mean turning our backs on what our parents taught us. It can mean changing our lifestyle — the way we talk, dress, spend our time. If we truly believe in God, that He is all powerful, all knowing, ever present, we can’t help but want to do what He asks. We can’t help but bow down to worship Him. We can’t help but want to be around people who believe the same way. We can’t help but want to serve Him and submit our lives totally to Him. If we aren’t willing to do these things, then we don’t believe in God. If we don’t believe in Him, we cannot please Him.

That might be fine for some. Maybe they think they’ll just believe that this life is all there is. Once we’re dead, it’s over. That doesn’t change the truth. God doesn’t just reward those who believe in Him. He punishes those who don’t. Remember, we have a choice. The choice is to believe in the one true God and serve Him totally or to not believe in Him and to serve His enemy. If that is our choice, we still exist eternally but instead of with God, we are to spend eternity in Hell. We don’t understand the torment of Hell anymore than we understand the magnificence of Heaven. Just because we don’t understand doesn’t mean we can ignore it. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist if we choose to not trust in God.

Is this all there is? No. There is more. Much more. Choose wisely.

1 John 3:7-8 “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.”

Matthew 25:31-34 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…'”

Matthew 25:41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…”