Breakfast in Hell

Some years ago an Australian rock band recorded a fun little ditty describing their breakfast club and ending with the sobering phrase, “when the Big One finds you may this song remind you that they don’t serve breakfast in hell.” It’s filled with amusing lines like the one about a friend who “that day he wore those pine pajamas, his cheque was good with God.” The Newsboys have progressed from in-your-face Christian rock to more thoughtful, artistically strenuous songs now, but sometimes I miss those rousing choruses. Breakfast in Hell is requested at every concert they play, so apparently it strikes a chord with millions of others, too.

 And why is that? 

I think it’s because deep inside of everyone is the certainty that there is more to this life than what we see right now; and if there is, am I on the right side of the argument? 

Christians believe the assertions made by Christ that he was the only son of God, and that he came to die in our place for the sins we commit against God. He also said that if you refuse his invitation to live for him by living for yourself, then buddy, you’re on the wrong side.

Uh oh. This creates a quandary because all humans just want to live by their own rules. We don’t want anyone telling us what to do. And if we do something mean or selfish, we want it to be hidden. We try to prevent others knowing about our darkest desires and if they do discover them, we make excuses or pretend that everyone else is doing them too, so they’re really okay.

But God operates differently from mankind. He sees all. He knows everything you’ve ever done, every thought you’ve ever had. Try as we might, we cannot hide from Him.  When we live our lives as though he doesn’t matter, we are bound to go wrong because there is a missing component. In other words, a car that is intended to run on gasoline is not going to perform well or go far if you put Clorox in the tank. Sesame oil, fruit juice, and filtered water won’t work either. Humans were created to run on God. Without him, we run on a God-shaped tank that won’t be satisfied by anything.

Hard work won’t suffice, being nice to other people isn’t enough, and writing checks to the church won’t get your right with God. God is aiming for that personal relationship with every human being, and it has to start with giving up our own will to follow His instead. That’s a tough one, because all the messages around us, from school lessons to TV advertisements, tell us to be captain of our own ship and indulge our sense of entitlement.

But because He allowed everyone to make up their own mind about Him, the issue of heaven and hell will be decided by each us alone. Hmm. Do I choose to accept the invitation to live for God rather than myself? If so, I shall have peace of soul. Life may have its bumps and bruises, but God will always be there to help me through them. If we don’t accept his invitation, life may seem to go well at times, but there will always be that missing link, and there will never be true peace because deep in the back of our minds, we know, we know, that something is terribly wrong and we’re not equipped to fix it.

In the end, the believers will go to live in heaven with the one they loved in life and to whom they turned over control. Those who refused the invitation go to hell. Why? Because if they didn’t want God when they were living, they certainly won’t appreciate him when their life is over. Hell is total separation from God. I really hate the fact that some very nice people have made that choice, but it’s their decision to make. 

The choice requires careful thought. Do I really want to give control of my life to someone I can’t even see? That’s where faith and logic step in. Millions of people throughout history died terrible deaths because they believed in Him. Archeologists have shown that events in the Bible really happened. And I have experienced firsthand the changes that only he brought to my life. 

Nope, there won’t be breakfast in hell. And there will be no second chances, either. But God is in heaven with Christ, his son. And when I see their faces for the first time, I cannot imagine the tremendous relief that will flood my soul. Christ came and died to set me free from myself, and the joy that comes with it is better than anything this world has to offer.