Over the past couple months, the students have been submitting anonymous questions online for the leaders to answer. Last night we got the chance to respond to those questions! Some of the questions include, “How did races of people form?”, “What is the role of the Holy Spirit in Heaven?”, “Is hell eternal for a human or will you eventually end up in heaven at some point?” There were also several questions about assurance of salvation and about the Ukraine/Russia war and the end times.
While responding to these questions, the kids displayed a very obvious interest in the questions about Heaven and Hell. They were seriously concerned for their own salvation and several times and in several ways asked about how they could have assurance of salvation. We talked about the certainty of Heaven and the certainty of Hell – that we our hope of Heaven is unfading, undefiled, and filled with glory. In the same manner, Hell is just as certain for those who live without God in this life.
This concept has evoked a similar response every time that it is brought up. The kids seem to throw away every distraction and express serious and real concern for the assurance of their salvation. The best thing that we can do is to encourage them to meditate on the reality of Heaven and the reality of Hell on a regular basis. It is tempting to avoid focusing on these things because they are difficult to think through and make sense of, however, if we want real spiritual growth and for our kids to sincerely experience the glory of Christ, they must wrestle with the reality of eternal life in Heaven or Hell. Encourage them to meditate on these things on a regular basis. My prayer will be that they make a practice of thinking about the reality of Heaven so that it permeates every aspect of their lives and they begin to really live as true disciples.
