The Consequences Of 18 Inches

 

By Doug Hethcox

A long time past I heard a phrase that really caught my attention, “18 Inches will keep a lot of people out of Heaven”, when the phrase was explained to me my eyes were opened to a major truth in God’s word. Before I share with you this explanation let’s look at God’s perfect plan of salvation found in the book of John Chapter 3 verse 16, “For God so loved the world that He Gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now let’s break that down just a little, For God(The Creator) so loved(unconditional, without merit) the world(all nations, creeds, color)that He gave(voluntarily) His only begotten Son( Jesus crucified) that whoever( anyone, everyone, all) Believes( to have confidence in the truth, the existence of, or the reliability of something, although without absolute proof that One is right in doing so, IE Only if One believes can One act purposefully, to accept as true) in Him( Jesus ) should not perish( Soul, come into condemnation ) but have everlasting life.( Eternity in Heaven ).

    The above definition of the word believes, is from Websters Dictionary, and there is a major difference in Knowing and Believing.

    Now what about the 18 inches, take a yardstick or ruler that is at least 18 inches in measurement and stand in front of a mirror and measure from the top of Your head to the middle of your chest, you will find it is 18 inches or very close to it. With Our Mind we Know, but with Our Heart we Believe, Romans 10:10 “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” As with the above definition of Believes, Confession is acting purposefully. Don’t be mislead, belief without action can be damming, just look at Lucifer for instance, He not only believes Jesus is the Son of God, He knows, but rather then confession, in His anger He chooses to make war against God by seeking to destroy all those who do seek God by tricking them to believe the same way He does, in your mind you can know who Jesus really is, The Son of God, God in the flesh but only when you truly Believe and act Purposefully by confession of Sin do you break the 18 inch barrier between Mind and Heart. And without that connection You will never know the reward of eternal life as is evident in Matthew 7: 22-23 “Many will say to Me in that day (judgment) Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name and done many wonders in your name? And I will declare to them, I never Knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!.”

    Jesus, after His crucifixion and His resurrection gathered His disciples together and gave them what is known as the Great Commission Matthew 28:18-20 “All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on Earth. Go therefore and make disciples of ALL the Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen”. It saddens my heart that so many Churches have seemed to forgotten what their first and highest calling is, to preach the Gospel.

   Once that 18 inch barrier is gone something wonderful happens, The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you, and suddenly you feel as if you’re a brand new person, 2nd. Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new”. You want to study the Bible, get to know Jesus person to person, you feel peace unlike you’ve ever known in your heart, and you simply know that you know what you know.

   You’re probably asking yourself now the same thing I asked myself so many years ago, how, without truly knowing, what must I do, answer, take a leap of Faith, Ephesians 2: 8 “For by grace you have been saved through Faith, and not of yourselves, it is the Gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast”.

   Take it on Faith, Believe it, Act on it, open your heart and receive the free gift of salvation for your living immortal soul and as in Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage”.

    In closing researchers tell us that a person only uses about 10% of their brain, I don’t know about you but I’m not going to pit my 10% against God’s wisdom and His overall plan of justice, for I feel what God offers me simply for belief through faith is truly pure love.                                      

Maranantha…Doug Hethcox