If
you have driven for even a few years, you will have seen automobile
accidents of all types, some even as bad as this. As far as accidents
are concerned, they happen very quickly and unexpectedly. My wife and
I have had several that resulted in our cars being “totaled” and
I can tell you from personal experience, this does make you think
about how short our lives could be. Every single day that one of us
leaves this house, the other one says something like: Drive
carefully, there are idiots out there. And the fact of the matter is-
there are! These words of caution are accompanied by doing simple
things, like wearing our seat belts and always trying to be diligent
about obeying the speed limit. Quite often, we take the long route to
our destination, just to avoid traffic congestion. All these things
prepare us for the worst, and may in fact save our life. Needless to
say we are preparing for the future and are ready to face whatever
(or whoever) may come our way. The sad fact is that not everyone
remains vigilant about the dangers of driving an automobile, but far
worse than that; they have no concern for their relationship with
God. Frankly, they are completely unprepared to face the final
judgment. The following parable from Jesus tells of one person’s
preoccupation with other things (in this case MONEY) rather than his
spiritual future. Jesus says:
Luke
12 ( World English
Bible )
[16]
He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich
man brought forth abundantly. [17] He reasoned within himself,
saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my
crops?’ [18] He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down
my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain
and my goods. [19] I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods
laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’
[20] “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul
is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will
they be?’ [21] So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and
is not rich toward God.”
This
person centered his life around wealth, but he could have been
focused on power, family, a hobby, political ambitions or any one of
a thousand things that “get in the way” of getting right and
keeping yourself right with God. Don’t wind up in hell by accident.
Take care of your sin problem today (before it is too late). The
apostle Peter presents the solution quite plainly, when he says in
Acts, chapter two:
[14]
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and
spoke out to them, “You men of Judea, and all you who dwell at
Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words. [15] For
these aren’t drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third
hour of the day* about 9:00 AM. [16] But this is what has been spoken
through the prophet Joel: [17] ‘It will be in the last days, says
God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your
daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old
men will dream dreams. [18] Yes, and on my servants and on my
handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will
prophesy. [19] I will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the
earth beneath; blood, and fire, and billows of smoke. [20] The sun
will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the
great and glorious day of the Lord comes. [21] It will be, that
whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’* Joel
2:28-32
[22] ”Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which
God did by him in the midst of you, even as you yourselves know, [23]
him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge
of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and
killed; [24] whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of
death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. [25]
For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before my
face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. [26]
Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my
flesh also will dwell in hope; [27] because you will not leave my
soul in Hades* or, Hell, neither will you allow your Holy One to see
decay. [28] You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me
full of gladness with your presence.’* Psalm 16:8-11
[29] ”Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that
he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
[30] Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with
an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh,
he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, [31] he foreseeing
this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was his
soul left in Hades* or, Hell, nor did his flesh see decay. [32] This
Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses. [33] Being
therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from
the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this,
which you now see and hear. [34] For David didn’t ascend into the
heavens, but he says himself, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit by
my right hand, [35] until I make your enemies a footstool for your
feet.”’* Psalm 110:1 [36] ”Let all the house of Israel
therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified.”
[37] Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and
said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall
we do?” [38] Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins,
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. [39] For the
promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off,
even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.” [40] With
many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save
yourselves from this crooked generation!” [41] Then those who
gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day
about three thousand souls.
Don’t
wait for something unexpected to happen, obey God and you can face
death without worry or fear. Prepare now, and live eternally because
of Jesus!