It is shocking to me, many of them i personally knew, conversed with ,some i laughed with, so i can't even imagine what the families must be going through.
None of them saw this coming, none of them expected this. None of the families saw this coming . One day they were making plans and setting dates, have hearty conversations with their loved ones, and the next, they were gone, and to their loved ones, it was like a bad dream.
In a few days it would be the birthday of a friend that passed on when i was in my freshman year many years back,but feels like yesterday, he would have been 27 this year.
What's my point. We have no control over when we would die. No matter how healthy we eat ,exercise or diet, there is no guarantee. No matter how safely we drive , efficient our pilots ,our sturdy our houses. There is no guarantee that we are even going to wake up the next morning, can you guarantee that the next breath you take won't be your last.
These dear people were teenagers, young adults and well lived in the prime, chronology did not make a difference to their passing on.
Being young is no guarantee. We have all heard stories of people that step out of their front door and the next minute they are gone. We have heard of young people that sleep and don't wake up, no warning . We've heard of toddlers, pre teens, teenagers , graduates and newly weeds that are gone in one second, shortly after saying, "i'll be back in a few minutes"
A few months ago, Michael Jackson passed away, many people that never met him or had a personal knowledge of him, but they took it very personal and very hard. The next question was "where is he now?" Some of those that did not like him , made statements of "Roasting", others say "he's Moon Walking in the pearly gates". I don't know what confessions, decisions or repentance he made before he passed, so i'm not going to speculate.
The question we should be asking ourselves. What are we going to do when we breathe our last breath and find out after all, that there's life after death?
What are you going to do when you find out that being good, doing good works, being a nice person, does not grant you entry into Heaven? That your good, or nice does not meet the standard of God.
How would you explain or give account for the life you lived?
How would you explain , hearing about God, knowing about him, and yet living a life that largely ignored him and the sacrifice he made for you?
When God says, WHY should i let you into my Kingdom? What would your answer be?
Your employee of the month. Paid off Mortgage, Tight Whip, Favorite Song, Retirement Fund, Big Bonus,Six Figure Salary, Goodness, Donations to Charity ,Appearance on a Magazine front cover, Award winning song,Movie, Best selling book are not going to matter. They are all going to be left behind for people to fight over.
When you stand naked before the throne of God, all that you achieved in the physical is not going to amount to a hill of beans. To put it bluntly , no amount of good works, that impresses humans, is going to impress an eternal and infinitely Holy God. To whom all our righteousness is like filthy rags. To use a modern term, presenting your "good works' to a Holy God that knows no sin, is like strutting in front of him, in a coat made of month old used tampons, and expecting him to be impressed. Imagine the stink of it, not to mention how Ludicrous .
BEFORE WE PROCEED ANY FURTHER, LET'S TAKE THE GOOD TEST
-Have you ever told a lie? If you say NO, that' s a lie right there . Baring false witness
-Have you ever stolen something , no matter how small or insignificant,even a pinch of cake,a piece of meat, a friends dress,shoe. Thou shalt not Steal
-Have you ever looked at someone with lust, you just looked and imagined. Yup, that's as bad as doing the deed of fornication or adultery
-Have you ever taken the name of the Lord in vain? G....Dammit etc...well that's blasphemy
-Has anything, job,money,love interest,ambition held a bigger place in your heart than God ,more time , more priority, more focus and attention than God? If so, it's called Idolatry
-Growing up did you ever defy your parents and disobey a direct instruction even by omission,or subtly Well, you did not Honor your parents as commanded.
If you have answered yes to any of those question , you just broke one of the ten commandment. You see how hard it is? In all honesty we all have broken all of them at some point in time.
By those pre Grace standards we are all on some level, Liars, Thieves and fornicators
Trust me, we do not want to be judged by the law, or how moral we have been.You can see them in Exodus 20
That is why a merciful God sent Christ, so we would not be subject to judgment by those standards. Our sin separates us from God and repentance and submission to Christ is the only guarantee to reconciliation with God.
This is not multiple choice, or the wheel of fortune..There are no several roads to salvation. If you don't come to God through Jesus, you are not coming to him at all. He is offering us GRACE. God is not there saying "Let's make a deal", he's saying "Here's the deal, take it, or leave it"
GOD LOVES YOU,and he made a plan of salvation so you won;t be subject to the law. He's a father opening his arms for you to run into ,but if you reject him, you have to realize that he is also an incorruptible judge, that would not let injustice, sin and rejection of his gift go unpunished.
Jesus was the only one to come and make a sacrifice for our sins. He paid the price that for our sin,and faced the wrath of God, that was meant for those who confess their sin and accept his Lordship. When you accept Christ, God no longer looks at you or your sin, but he looks at his sinless son, the righteousness of Christ and accepts that as YOUR righteousness.
He stands in the gap, saying Father, look at my righteousness not his, he has confessed and accepted me. In order to have that.
You have to acknowledge your sin first of all.
The lies, the lust (mental&physical), the cheating, the malice, fornication , hate ,the pride the jealousy ,envy ,greed ,spite and all those things we call part of human nature. No human being can say they have never being guilty of any of these, and THAT is exactly the point.
We are all born in sin, and until we accept the salvation of Christ done on the Cross , by mourning ,repenting and forsaking of our sin, we will face God as a judge instead of a Father welcoming us home.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment Hebrews 9:27
You may be thinking "I know i need to get right with God, BUT I'll do it later, i still have time , i want to enjoy life as i'm young".
Tupac said very similar words to Evander Holyfield a few hours before he was gunned down. He was man that had it all by world standards; looks, fame , more money than he knew what to do with, a successful career and respect in his industry. What more, right??
The wisest man to ever live, King Solomon said
"Don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your creator.Honor him in your youth before you grow old and no longer living. It will be too late then to remember him......." Ecclesiastes 12:1-2
You may say "How dare you imply that i'm a sinner, who are you to say that, i'm a very good person , i work hard a being moral. How are you better than me?"
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
I'm not better, but the fact is unless we are seen by God through the righteousness of Christ, we are all filthy and face the judgment of an incorruptible judge, because no human can live 100% to God's standard ,his HOLY standard, no matter how good, or moral we think we are by human standards, humans are fickle, and what is moral today, in 30 years time would be called old fashioned and backward thinking.
If you are relying on Good works, it's recorded that Michael Jackson did more more for humanity and Charity than any other celebrity or even some organizations. Yet there are human beings that hold him in contempt, for the charges of which he was acquitted. If people could not forgive him, for apparent mistakes, which were never proven.If despite all the good he did , humans with their own flaws and issues had such high standards and expectation .How much do we think our accumulation of good works can ever matter to an infinitely HOLY God, who has never known any sin.
There's hope
He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved Acts 16:30-31
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Come now, let us reason together,"says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.-Isaiah 1;18
If you have made it to the end of this note, you may still disagree and say NO ,
You may be infuriated with me.
You may be saying, This boy has come again?
You may be , this boy won't leave this religion thing alone,is it by force?
You may even decide to bid me good riddance
But I'd rather say this truth to you , and have you mad at me, than keep quite, and just hope you stumble across it someday, just so we can keep the "peace".
.You may decide that you've had enough of my Bible stuff and never want to speak to me again BUT Your life, your eternal destiny, is more important to me than how happy you remain with me,or how high i am ranked on your approval or "cool" rating, Where you stand with God when your time comes, is FAR more important than those things
This is not about religion.This is more than just an opposing theology or philosophy . THIS IS ABOUT YOUR LIFE. It's about a personal relationship with God.
Ceremonies, church attendance,prayer routine is no guarantee to salvation, neither are any amount of good works or penance. Good people don't go to heaven, forgiven people do.
Even if you grew up in church, with Christian parents, that is no guarantee. Going to church does not make you a christian, any more than going to MacDonalds makes you a hamburger. God does not have any grand children , faith in Christ is not genetically transferred. The evidence about what your life is TODAY.
The word says
Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine.Test yourselves.If you cannot tell that Jesus Christ is among you, it means you have failed the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5-6).
The only thing i will ask, is that if you have never done this before, Cry out to the God of heaven and earth through his son Jesus and ask him if you are right with him. If he is pleased with your life right now, If he recognizes you as his child and if you have a place in his Kingdom, and to teach you how to be reconciled to him. If you don't believe he's real , well, all you've lost is some words. If you do, well, this could just be the beginning of your journey with him.
That's all i ask.
GOD BLESS
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