May 2, 2008...
There’s always tomorrow.
There is a certainty we all live with. One that no matter how hard we push to the outskirts of our minds finds its way back to the foreground of our thought. It finds its way back with every close call, every almost getting hit by the car that you didn’t see coming, every almost choking on that piece of food, and every time we get truly sick. This certainty dogs our steps, waiting to spring upon us like a jungle cat ambushing its prey. No man wants to face it, but all men will. Yes all men will stand face to face with this terrible certainty. All men must look death in the eye sooner or later. And that’s part of the problem isn’t it ? Whether it be sooner or later is not known. No one reading this post knows whether they have 50 years or 10 minutes left to live. In this respect we are all in the dark as to when this dreadful visitor will come calling.
To those without Christ this is a terrible reality. At any minute, any second, that monster death could devour you and take you to an eternity of eternal sorrow unimaginable. Around every corner it could be waiting to haul you in chains before the Most High God and then into its cold embrace for ever. “But I am young” you say and comfort yourself with the greatest lie men ever tell themselves: “It wont happen to me.. Not yet not now.” Your comfort is as hollow as the so called joys the world is offering you. You believe yourself special. You are you after all, terribly unique … (just like every one else). And like everyone else you too will die and you know not when. Even as you read, this could be your last morning. You may have already eaten your last meal, had your last conversation. This may be the last day you hold a gudge over a petty thing; the last day you hate your enemies. This day may very well be the last day of your rebellion against God. Woe to them that say “I will have my way for a time.. I will soe my wild oats and then I will repent in old age.” Woe to them that assume length of year in their pride; them that say “One more day and I will repent and follow Jesus.” Fool, do you not know that tonight your soul may be required of you? You would forfeit your last chance for mercy based on the hollow, untrue promise of a tomorrow that may never come. In truth, some of you reading this have already lived out most of your lives and when death comes there is no more illusion of “It won’t happen to me”. That is why the book of Hebrews proclaims that “today is the day of salvation”, for it very well may be your last and it is a terrible thing to fall unforgiven and rebellious into the hands of the living God. WAKE UP OH SLEEPER OR YOU MAY NEVER WAKE UP AT ALL! Then all your pleasent dreams will turn into all too real nightmares. Now is the time I implore you. Now is the time to lay down your idols and rebellious pleasures and turn to Christ for mercy. Now is the time to take God seriously for He is deadly serious. Now is the day to ask you to save you from your deception and sin. There may not be another.
To those who are His own this is a sober reality that is girded with joy. Sober because of what I have afore mentioned. Sober because this may be the last time you get to glorify God to those who need to see Him for the life of their souls. The last opportunity you have to tell them of Christ. The last time this side of forever you get to tell your loved ones how you feel. The last time you have opportuinty to forgive those who have wronged you, make peace and show charity. This may be the last post you read. The last day you have to tell God he is worthy while sin still pulls at your coat. Let me ask you, brethren, if you knew that tomorrow you would no longer be here, who would you forgive, who would you share the gospel with, how much harder would you love your wives, husbands, (and vice versa)? Would you have more patience with them that you have so little for now? Would you could you make the time to tell Jesus all the things you want to tell Him before you come home? Could you make the time to spend an hour, heck, even a half hour giving thanks and praise to him for His mercy in your life? Would you pray harder for the lost? Would you pray harder for the church? Whose needs would you reach out to meet today if you knew it were your last? It is a sober reality because today may very well be your last. How will you live it?
It is girded with joy because this may be the last time you feel the sting of rejection. The last time you have to tell God is worthy while sin still pulls at your coat. The last time you feel your heart stray as the temptations of sin the world and you flesh tug at your soul. The last time you know defeat. The last time you feel despair. Today may be the day that you walk into eternity as a man walks through an open door into a far greater country with a far greater soul. Today may be the day you with a sigh of relief lay down your sword and weep the words home and rest. Today may be the day you with cleansed eye behold the Savior’s face and feel His smile as He admires His finished work in your soul with satisfaction. Today, this very day, you may find yourself clutching His garment and weeping with a flood of joy as you fully and for the first time comprehend the meaning of grace, mercy, and the love of God. IS THIS NOT OUR GREAT HOPE? Today, you may with the voice of a super nova proclaim the praise of the Lamb in a purity undeserved a mercy unwarranted that will accentuate the joy of heaven with ever growing explosions of praise. This may be the last post I write. The last time I get to thank my hero of a wife for the way she loves me. The last time I get to hold my little ones and tell them that daddy loves them. The last time I have to warn the lost and those who walk the fence of a judgment that they by the grace of God might avoid. The last time I may extend mercy to those who have hurt me and to those that I love. Yet, even though the thought brings tears to my eyes and pain to my heart, the joy that awaits me is so great it far outweighs the sorrow. Now, at last, may we with Paul count these minor and temporary afflictions as nothing compared to the joy of knowing Christ as He has promised we shall.
9 Comments
May 2, 2008 at
TGC,
Thank you so much for this reminder. It is especially poignant for me right now because 11 years ago today my Father entered glory.
In Jesus,
Cheryl
May 2, 2008 at
Thanks.. Amen
May 3, 2008 at
Jarrod,
We are certainly pulled along by the certainty of a future reality. Hope does not disappoint.
May 14, 2008 at
I love being hectored and threatened into the kingdom of God. O yes I do.
This little screed reminds me of why I walked away from Christianity. I’d rather not, thankyoverymuch, worship a god who is apparently so insecure that he (always a he) will treat you badly if you don’t worship him (always a him) the “right way” (whatever that is, which in 30+ years of being a Christian, I never was able to figure out, given the infinity of varying opinions on the subject).
Yes, I’d rather go to hell, thankyouverymuch, than worship a vengeful deity whose actions would be unacceptable in a human being. I’ve thought about it a lot, in fact. It’s a moral imperative to oppose such a being, if in fact this “god” does exist. To those who read this and are horrified by my statements: I command you to remember forever the face of a man, a woman, a child, a person who didn’t believe like you do, and who, because your god says so, is sentenced to everlasting torment. If, as you say, you’ll be moving on to perfection and glory, let the face of that one person, be it newspaper boy, coworker, supermarket clerk, mother, son, husband, be burned in your head. And, as you bask in your perfections, worshipping your almighty god, be reminded that your god is also tormenting forever those people. May their faces rise before you and haunt you as you enjoy eternal glory.
There are choices to be made. My choice is that I’d rather burn forever in hell than worship such a petty deity, whose alleged mercy is apparently dwarfed by his (always his) overwhelming judgment. Worship a tyrant? I’d rather not.
May 14, 2008 at
Then saddly you show that you have missed not only the point of my post but the point of the Gospel itself. i am sorry that you feel that way. but just going to church for 30 years doesn’t make one a born again Christian. not realizing that all men are and i repeat are criminals, rebels, and enemies of The most High is a big proof that your christianity was most likely only skin deep. your statements prove that you have not done your homework on the issue of eternal Hell, but have instead just assumed God to be the villain because it doesn’t make sense to your created mind. It shouldn’t be that way you say. well first i must ask. Who are you? i will be prayin for you today for sure. because it is clear from your statements that you have missed the heart of Christ in the message.
May 14, 2008 at
Cukes,
Your sentiment is understandable. The position you take illustrates the legitimacy of humankind’s complete corruption. The basic position you project is just this: “Not fair”, “Not fair”, “Not fair”! However, you contradict yourself by claiming that it is your own choice to burn in hell. Either it is God’s fault or it is your own. Have you chosen hell because God has chosen it for others? I’m afraid that this is not your right.
It is not ultimately your choice–as you put it–to burn forever in hell.
Even so, if you really ‘were’ a Christian for 30+ years as you say, then you still are. God justifies and glorifies those whom he has chosen. In John 10 the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, tells us this: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (NIV). Though you may be experiencing a season of overwhelming doubt, God the Father will in no way extinguish the life of Christ which is present in you through the Holy Spirit. Now, there is certainly a chance that you had deceived yourself for the entire period in which you claimed the label of Christian. If so, then you are now closer to the truth then you were before. You have moved from a place of deceived complacency into a place of airing honest grievances toward the Most High. Blaming God is not the unforgivable sin, it is sin, but it is not unforgivable. I believe that a real anger toward God is much more apt to find the love of God, the humility of the Holy Spirit, and discover the great grace of Jesus Christ. This has been the case in my own life.
Grace is not fair. However, it is also not at odds with the judgment of God. You hold God in derision for the fact that He condemns. Why do you not also question the concept of Him saving? In many countries the idea of unmerited favor and God’s unconditionally complete forgiveness of sin is seen with much the same light as we in America view the judgment of God. Scandal is served on both accounts. We take for granted that God should save the undeserving. They take for granted that God should condemn the undeserving.
The fact is that God condemns and saves the undeserving. Grace is not fair. No. Grace is better than fair. You see a tyrant, I see a Sovereign. You see a dictator, I see a king. You see malevolence, I see pure prerogative. I did not cause myself to view God in this way, but was seized by the power of a great affection. The love of God poured out in Christ Jesus captured my affection and delivered my blind eye of doubt through grace into faith. I do pray right now that you would be enlivened by that same grace, turn in repentance, and believe as you once did or have never done before.
Blessings,
Nathaniel Ruland
May 14, 2008 at
Cukes,
I don’t blog any more, but do still read here sometimes and when I saw your comment this morning I felt I needed to say a heartfelt word to you, from someone who has been there, and once felt that way.
I just wanted you to know God understands exactly where you are right now, and what this spiritual struggle is all about. Thankfully, for all of us, He is a big enough God to know that we all sometimes have doubts about His love for us, or others, and that we sometimes get angry at what we perceive to be injustice on His part.
Through it all, I have learned many times over that He’s there to help us, even through our unbelief and anger at Him, and/or others, whatever the situation. He’s done it for me and lots of people I know many times even though I couldn’t see it at all at the time! That’s the wonderful and ever faithful part of His love toward us, even when our faith is weak, and we doubt Him to the point we can’t even begin to see His grace in a situation.
I too will pray that you find your way to the answers you seek and find true comfort in Christ. There is truly nothing like the real thing, for no human being or church can give us the kind of real inner peace and assurance we all need, no matter how hard we, or they, try.
Just know in the meantime that Christ does love you, and wants to extend His hand to you once again. I pray for His grace and mercy to be with you through this spiritual struggle. Just simply ask for his grace and truth, and then let Him do the needed work in your heart, and it will all become clear to you eventually.
God bless you.
May 14, 2008 at
mbaker,
I just wanted you to know that it was good to hear from you again. I have missed you here.
Cheryl
May 14, 2008 at
mbaker,
Hear hear. Welcome back kind lady.
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