What comes next?

Before I studied at NTBI, if I'm honest with myself, I'll admit that I didn't want to give much thought to anything that had to do with what comes after this life. Yeah, I knew that I had given my life to Christ and would therefore be ushered into heaven.....but what should have been the most exciting thought to occupy my mind was continually put aside. The thought of encountering death terrified me. The thought of Christ coming back scared me as well. In my mind, although I knew the outcome, the process of getting there was a huge unknown........and I hate facing the unknown.
For quite some time now, through new understanding and a deeper relationship with my Savior, my attitude toward the "afterlife" (for lack of a better term) has changed from apprehension to anticipation. However within the last few days, I realized a huge flaw in my former thinking. When thinking about what will happen after death, I considered the entire concept to be reaching far into the realms of the unknown. How wrong is that? We have been given the Bible which clearly describes to us what is in store for the human race, both positively and negatively. For those who choose to go through life without surrendering to Christ, the Bible is very clear that an eternity of anguish, pain, and unimaginable torment lies ahead. (I think this is why many people choose to reject the truth of the Bible. No one likes to even consider that there might be eternal consequences for a life of sin here on earth.) On the positive side, for those who understand and accept the gift of salvation that is so graciously and freely offered to all who will believe, an eternity of unimaginable beauty, the purest and fullest joy, and freedom from all sin and it's consequences that weigh us down here on earth is awaiting us. We will be continually in the presence of God Almighty, the Creator of galaxies, the Giver of life, the Author of Salvation!

Did God leave us in the dark to live our lives in constant dread and fear what what might be waiting for us on the other side? Absolutely not! He is not a God who takes delight in inspiring fear in the hearts of the people that He so lovingly created. He is a gracious and merciful Father who lavishes blessings on the undeserving and chooses to take extreme delight in providing hope for the children that He loves so much. He is a just God Who does not let sin go unpunished......however He took our debt, provided the payment, wrote down the path to eternal Life for us to read and understand, and now waits with open arms for His children to come home. I can't wait to run into those arms!!! Are you going to join me??