Life is Short – Love Hard & Be Prepared
Sunday I was reminded of how short life can be when I received word that one of the young ladies in a youth group I worked with about 30 years ago, was found dead inside her home last Thursday morning. She was 43 and leaves behind a husband and 5 children. The cause of death is not yet known.
Life is short and we do not know when our time here will be up. In light of eternity, our stay here is but the briefest of flashes. What will become of you when your body ceases to function and your consciousness opens its eyes on forever? Most people believe that being a good person or doing more good than bad things, searching for enlightenment, or paying respect to traditions will treat their souls to comfort in the afterlife. Jesus said all of those things are good, but not good enough.
See, while God is Love, He is also Holy – that means everything about Him, thoughts, words and actions, is done from a righteous motive. Only if you meet that measure of perfection would you even be able to exist in His presence, for He is perfect light and it expels all darkness. So all it takes to be unable to be in His presence is one microscopic speck of imperfection. “That’s impossible”, you say! You are right about that. So in His Love, He sent Jesus to live the perfect life we’re incapable of living. By doing so, Jesus was able to take our place in God’s judgement. Jesus stood in our place and took our punishment. Now God is offering us a “gift card” – Jesus. His hand is extended, the card in His fingers.
What we have to do is to accept that gift card. If we don’t take that gift card, then when our bodies die, our soul cannot be in God’s presence – it doesn’t have the gift card to pay. It is really that simple. Taking the gift card means our soul is reborn to be molded by God into the character of Jesus – the same Jesus who loved us so much that He volunteered to take our place. God wants us to Love Hard. Jesus said to love God with all of our being, love our neighbors as ourselves, and to love deeply all other Christians.
Although this post started with a sad story, the Great News is that Michelle had taken that gift card many years ago. When her life ended quite unexpectedly last week, she presented the gift card and entered into the presence of the Holy God forever. What about you? Will you make the choice to take Jesus’ offer? It is simple and will change your life and afterlife. How do you do that? Check out these links:
Simple, Easy, Step by Step Instructions on Accepting God’s Gift
An Alternate Set of Instructions
