by Tad Lindley
Remember when you found out that there was no Santa? For some of us it was the crushing realization that people we trusted had lied to us. In the most severe cases, it triggers a legacy of alcohol soaked bad decisions and a wrecked life that only years of therapy or the infilling of the Holy Ghost can salvage. Well you better put your seatbelt on, because I am about to rock your world with another, “I hate to break it to you, but…”
YOLO
In case you are out of the loop, YOLO stands for, “You Only Live Once.” It is often used in situations where someone is looking for an excuse to do something dangerous, illegal, sinful, or some combination of the three. For example:
Your friend: “Hey, Bro, let’s take your brand new truck and see if we can make it across the tundra all the way to Atmau!”
You: “Yeah, right, sally!”
Your friend: “Come on, man, YOLO!”
The original YOLO
The first YOLO happened when our ancestors Adam and Eve were in the garden. You can check it out in Genesis 3. (I’m paraphrasing what happened). The serpent was extremely tricky and he wanted to get Adam and Eve to do something that was dangerous, illegal, and sinful; he wanted them to commit spiritual suicide. So he told Eve, “Girl, you are missing out! God doesn’t want you eating the fruit from this tree, because then you’ll know everything. YOLO!” And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Genesis 3:6) And the rest is human history.
YOLO is a lie
The problem is this, YOLO is a lie. The facts declare that We All Live Twice (WALT). The Bible teaches us that it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27) Every time we sing Sweet By and By and take them out to the cemetery and lower their casket into the ground, that is not the last time we will see them. We will all live again. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)
Reincarnated as you
Except for those who happen to be alive at the return of the Lord and rise up in the rapture, every one of us will die. All of us will be reincarnated as ourselves. We will live again at one of the two resurrections. The resurrection that we experience is going to be based on what happened in our first life, the one we are living right now. I’ll show you.
I found you in the Bible
Without exception, we will all stand before God in the next life. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:11-13)
Next time they say, “YOLO”, tell them “WALT”
The outcome of our next life is entirely dependent on our response to the Lord in our current life. By the time we show up in Revelation 20:11, it will be too late to go back and make it right. So next time someone calls you and says, “Hey, friend I just scored, come over and smoke!”
You: “No thanks.”
Someone: “Come on, dude, YOLO!”
You: “Actually, cuz, WALT! Why don’t you toss the dope in the woodstove and we’ll go to prayer meeting instead, because there is no YOLO, WALT!”
Reverend Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
