What is your understanding of Hell?
God gives each us free choice. We can choose God or we can turn our backs on God. All of us turn our backs on God at times and in different ways, but the minute we become aware of this and ask God's forgiveness, our relationship with God can be mended. If we keep coming back to God no matter how many times we wander off or mess up, it shows we do have some kind of relationship or friendship with God.
God gives each us free choice. We can choose God or we can turn our backs on God. All of us turn our backs on God at times and in different ways, but the minute we become aware of this and ask God's forgiveness, our relationship with God can be mended. If we keep coming back to God no matter how many times we wander off or mess up, it shows we do have some kind of relationship or friendship with God.
Some people choose to keep their backs turned to God permanently. They never turn to God. They never ask for forgiveness or help. God very reluctantly allows them to do that if that's their choice. Jesus taught that those who keep their backs turned to God permanently in this life would live cut off from God in the next life too. This is essentially what Hell is.
Some of the most striking words of Jesus on the subject of judgement, Heaven and Hell are these:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast our demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?' And I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness." Matthew 7:21-23
Jesus knows each of us personally. What he means by 'I never knew you' is 'You never had a genuine relationship with me'. Jesus doesn't ask us to be perfect in order to 'get into Heaven'. What he does ask is that we have a 'genuine relationship' with him.
A genuine relationship with Jesus means having a relationship with him that goes deeper than just attending church services. He encourages us to share our lives with him. He longs for us to run to him each time we mess up. He longs for our worship and our prayer time to be more than just words but to affect the whole of our lives and how we treat others. No matter how imperfect we are, so long as we're turning to Jesus, trying to learn from him, and trying to follow and obey him, we're in a genuine relationship with him.
There are some people who might call themselves Christians but who are not actually living in friendship with Jesus. They might not have much of a prayer life at all. They might worship God a lot but not put that worship into practice in how they live and treat others in the ways God wants them to. They might say Christian words, but on the inside they might be more interested in themselves or in their 'Christian profile' than in Jesus. This is the kind of 'non-friendship with Jesus' that he's warning about in the passage above.
The Church teaches that Hell is real and that we really do have the ability to reject God or refuse to be in relationship with Jesus. How does this make you feel? Would you say that you are living in genuine friendship with Jesus?