YOLO

YOLO stands for You Only Live Once.  It is the philosophy that the life we are now living is the only we will ever have so we should make the best use of it by doing those things which bring us the greatest amount of pleasure now.  Like any other philosophy it needs to be tested by comparing it with what the Bible teaches.

If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”  (1 Corinthians 15:32)

It is correct in one point.  If the life we live now is all there is then the wisest course of action would be to get as much enjoyment as we can.  But is this life really all we have?

It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.  (Hebrews 9:27)

We do indeed only live once, but our existence doesn’t end when our body dies.  Here is a description of the final judgment.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.  (Revelation 20:11-15)

Only those whose names aren’t written in the book of life will be spared, so we should find out how to get our names written there.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  (Ephesians 2:1-3)

This is how we all begin.  We are dead in sin and so our  names are not in the book of life.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  (Ephesians 2:4-9)

This is how our names are written in the book of life.  We need to put our faith in Jesus Christ.  For more on this subject I suggest you read this:  Answers for Seekers.

The most important thing we can do is believe in Jesus Christ so that our final destination will be Heaven rather then the lake of fire.  Once we have taken this step there is another decision we must  make.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:10)

Our good works will not save us but after we are saved we have the opportunity to show our gratitude to God by doing the work he has given us.  We will be rewarded by God is we carry out this work faithfully.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.  (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)

In Heaven, as on earth, there will be rich and poor.  The rich will be those who served God faithfully.  Even the poorest will be infinitely better off than those in the lake of fire, but they will still fall short of the blessings they could have had.

You only live once; you will never be reincarnated into another life.  The life you now live doesn’t end when your body dies, but will exist eternally.  What your future life will be like depends on the choices you make in this life.  If you want to get the most good out of life you shouldn’t focus on the things that will give you pleasure now but you should do the best you can to find out and practice what God wants you to do.