What You Could Have Been

‘Somebody once told me the definition of hell: “On your last day on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.”‘

Anonymous

When you read this statement what comes to mind? Maybe it’s that you are not successful, or you haven’t achieved goals that you set for yourself. Maybe you look back and wish you had taken the time to work out and lose weight and be in shape. When we read statements like this, we tend to think of what is keeping you from becoming the person you want to be. What holds you back?

But, as a Christian, I look at my life and think what would have happened if Jesus hadn’t intervened in my life and save me from the person I could have been. Stuck in a job I hate for people who I don’t like for a pay that is below what I should be making because the boss told me that on my review that he’s not allowed to give me the top marks in any answer. I could be addicted to things like alcohol, drugs, or pornography. I could have been a womanizer using people to get what I want, not caring what happens to them. I could have been resentful, bitter, and angry with a propensity to retaliate for the injustices done to me. And all of these are the things that I can verbalize because without Christ, my life could have been an utter travesty; or it could have turned out pretty good on this side of hell anyway.

Therefore, if I ever do meet the person I could have been, no matter how successful he is, I will look on him with pity, and thank God He saved me from His wrath and adopted me as a son. Because without Jesus, I am nothing.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

Matthew 16:24-26a NKJV