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It’s true that God loves you and He loves me. It’s true that the love of God is deeper than anything we can ever understand or know. He loves you just as you are, but He loves you too much to keep you there. He wants you to be better. He desires for you to have better.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish, but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
If the love of God alone could keep every individual out of hell, then there would be no purpose to most of what Jesus spent His time teaching and living. Jesus called sinners to repentance. He taught those around Him how to love others, treat others, and demanded better of those that followed Him. He commanded them to be different. He instructed others that we must accept the gift of His love but accepting that gift requires us to be willing to allow God to mold us and change us. We cannot accept the gift of God’s love and tell Jesus we love Him while simultaneously continuing to live in sin as if nothing changed.
“So, whoever is in Christ is a new creation, the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Jesus instructed others to turn the other cheek, love others (even strangers) as much as they loved themselves, to forgive those who have wronged them, to give and not count the cost, and to care for the poor and sick.
If we want to know how to get to heaven, then we need to listen to Jesus. We need to understand that if it was only His love that got every individual to heaven, then Jesus could have just come and told us all that God loves us, died on the cross, come back to life, and went to heaven. He could have just been God the Father’s sacrifice for sins, and it would have all been great. No expectations. No requirements. No need to change. But that’s not what the life of Jesus shows us. Jesus taught His followers that to get to heaven we must obey the commandments. We must be willing to sacrifice and put God first.
Why would Jesus teach about hell and warn about eternal punishment if His love and sacrifice on the cross was enough to keep everyone out of hell? The love of God is a free and everlasting gift that we cannot earn. We cannot, alone, earn the love of God but we must accept the gift. It’s like someone buying you a Christmas present and handing it to you, but you refuse to take it and open it. The giver hands you the gift, wrapped in beautiful paper and gorgeous bows, but says if you accept it then it will change your life. You refuse to accept the gift because you do not want anything in your life to change. You do not want to give up your sins, your addictions, or your false beliefs in order to accept the gift being handed to you.
It is crucial to understand the love of God is a beautiful and marvelous thing we may not comprehend this side of heaven. God loves everyone. He loves you. He loves me. He loves the murderer, pedophile, sex trafficker, drug dealer, adulterer, abortionist, and thief. He loves those souls who are perishing in hell because they refused to accept the gift He offered.
The gift is His love. His unconditional and beautiful love is a free gift. You just have to accept it. However, you must be willing to change your life and repent if you open the gift. Are you willing to receive the gift that requires change?
Amelia Monroe Carlson graduated from the University of North Alabama with a Bachelor’s Degree in journalism. Being raised as a Methodist during her early years, it was not until she entered college where she began to take her faith seriously. She was baptized as a Southern Baptist in Muscle Shoals, AL and began immediately serving in international missions and in the church.
During college, she became the Co-founder of an International Ministry, where she spent time traveling and speaking to church groups and in large conferences. She authored a Bible study and traveled abroad on mission work. She sat on the Mid-South Interfaith Conferences in Mississippi, where she defended the faith and discussed beliefs with leaders of various religions.
After a business trip to Washington D.C., where she was introduced to a former Baptist who converted to the Catholic Church, she was placed on a journey to enter into the Catholic Church.
Amelia is a military wife and currently residents with her husband and daughter in Tennessee. She is a nine time award winning journalist, receiving press awards for various categories including investigative journalism, best news coverage, and best single feature. It is her desire to help Catholics, particularly Cradle Catholics, see the beauty in their faith which converts see and appreciate the fullness of truth which the Church has held and guarded throughout history. It is her desire all Catholics fall as much in love with Jesus as she is, and love the Church to a greater capacity than they could imagine.
Amelia taught PRE for 4-6 grade at St. Mary Catholic Church in Bolivar, Tennessee from 2014-2016. She served as Youth Director at St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church in Somerville, Tennessee in 2017-2018. She now teaches 7th grade (1st year Confirmation) PRE class at St. Philip. She's also a writer and frequent podcast guest on Our Warpath.
She has a strong devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Francis de Sales, St. Padre Pio and St. Maximilian Kolbe.
To contact Amelia for speaking inquiries at conferences, retreats, or parishes contact her via social media on Facebook (Amelia Monroe Carlson), Twitter (@2_catholic ) or send a text to: (731)518-6923.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ameliamcarlson
Twitter: @2_catholic (Catholic ministry account)
Twitter personal account: @ameliamcarlson
