This is a third glorious day in a row. I finally got the opportunity to do some much needed yard work. Mowed the lawn, got rid of some piles of leaves blown in from the neighbors place and pulled some weeds. What a mess. It looks a lot better now though, like somebody actually gives a rip.

Somebody I once knew had a picture with a caption underneath that read, "Nothing is achieved without effort, the fundamental force which brings success."

I always liked that saying, and the picture over it. The truth however is that people can achieve things with effort and time, but nothing that is of any lasting and true value can be achieved by any person without the power of the Savior God, Jesus Christ. People may wish to ignore that fact, and through things like philosophical reasoning, try to explain it away with irrelevant arguments that don't take His deity into account. That's the material point isn't it?

Jesus is God. He is the maker of the universe and He should be acknowledged as our Savior and Lord. Until a person does this and turns their heart to Him, everything they do in life doesn't amount to anything more than a hobby. Somebody might ask, "Isn't that a bit harsh? What about all the time and serious effort people put into their lives, into their work? Doesn't that make a difference in the world?"

It may make a difference alright, but only a temporary one. That may very well sound harsh. But the harshness comes from a failure to make the right choice. We have only two to choose from. We either choose Jesus in this life or we don't. In Jesus there is eternal life. Without Jesus, there is an eternity wasted and that is as harsh as it gets.

Part of the reason I write this blog is so that I can alert people who read it to this fact. Eternity is either with Jesus or without Jesus. Jesus isn't harsh. The consequences for ignoring Him and what he's done for us are though, and a person only brings those consequences onto themselves.

"What has He done for us?" someone might ask, "This world is still rotten and terrible things happen to good people every day."

This is something people ask all the time, as though the problems of sinful man are all God's fault. It is there in His word. Man and woman had a paradise to live in, but they were too lustful and envious of things they wanted to continue to live there with God's simple conditions. They sinned. Mankind then languished away in their fallen state. God provided a way for man's ruined existence to be salvaged. He gave mankind a choice. He gave the life of His only begotten Son to pay for mankind's sins, and with His death and resurrection, the right to choose to be eternally alive or an eternity without God.

Take the time. Make the effort. Read God's word, the Bible. This life is no picnic, but an eternity without God, is hell.