Suddenly!

“But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 NLT)

Do you ever think of death or dying? How does it make you feel? Are you filled with joy and excitement or paralyzed with fear and foreboding? It’s ironic to me that when I’m inviting someone to come to Jesus, to have their sins forgiven and to receive new life in Him, that split second of hesitancy could be the last second of their life.

In less time than it takes to blink our life could end and we could be in the presence or out of the presence of the Lord forever. We must be about our Father’s business! Time is wasting, people are dying, souls are perishing while we ponder what game we’ll play or whether or not we’re up for reading a chapter of the Bible.

C. S. Lewis wrote:“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.”

There are people who clearly want to go to hell. They have no concept of what that means or they’d quickly change their mind, but that’s their heart’s desire and God won’t force them to go to heaven. Does that mean we stop trying to change their mind? As long as there is conscious breath, there’s hope; if a person can nod their head or blink their eyes as an indication that, “yes,” I need Jesus, there’s hope.

Some bemoan the fact they’ve made such a mess of their life they can’t believe God would give them a second chance, but that’s the miraculous nature of grace. Again, C. S. Lewis sheds light when he writes:“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”

Sadly, many lost people look at our lives and see no difference between us and them. That grieves me. If the light of Jesus in my life is so dim they can see no difference, that’s on me, not them. But how can we allow the light of Jesus to shine in and through us? How do the lights in your car work? You turn the key or flip the switch! You activate them with an outside source of power!

We don’t reveal the light of Christ; we allow Him to shine when we activate our connection with Him. We can’t force Him to shine, but we can open our heart and mind when we have constant communion with Him. And, no, I’m not suggesting we walk around on our knees praying all day. What I am saying is our sense of God’s presence regardless of where we are or what we’re doing should give those near us the opportunity to experience His presence as well.

If Jesus is living in us, it’s very difficult to hide Him. When our thoughts are constantly drawn to Him, our instinct will be to cry out to Him in our times of need. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, my heart is tuned to the voice of God. We must allow the Lord’s “voice” to be steady and strong when helping others to know and understand the brevity of life and the severe consequences of ignoring His gentle voice.

We must speak and give them the opportunity to respond while there’s still time!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊