A few days ago I read a moving post on Facebook by a good friend and brother in Christ, Sage Anthony. I thought that he did a good job of presenting the gospel in the face of a painful situation. It was also a timely challenge to all of us to remember how brief and fragile our existence is and to live each day as though it may be our last.
With that introduction I will reprint, with his permission, the entirety of that post here.
" For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,""Sometimes life stops you for a moment of sober reflection. This happened to Diane and I today as we learned that a friend of her brothers is about to die. We do not know him all that well, but he has been friends with Jim and Chris going back to before Diane and I started dating.
Around 2 months ago he was in pretty bad accident and had to be induced into a coma in order for them to stabilize his condition. He has remained in that state until now, but they recently found an infection that can’t be treated. The doctors estimate that he will pass tonight or tomorrow.
We don’t know if he put his faith in Jesus Christ before the accident. It pains me to my bones to think that his suffering may not be over, but indeed just beginning. Today it was my small circle of acquaintances that was broken by the cold hand of tragedy, but whose will it be tomorrow? Yours perhaps?
We have but a brief time on this planet to live and we are all but one heartbeat away from stepping into eternity. Where will you go? Have you made peace with your creator?
An eternity in hell seems like too high of a price. “What have we done to deserve such a fate?” we might ask. The Bible tells us that we all have sinned. Jesus said that if you look on a woman with lust, you have committed adultery in your heart and a Perfect God will find you guilty. If you have ever lied, you will be branded a Liar by the God who speaks only Truth. Why is it that virtually every person that has ever lived has an instinctual understanding of right and wrong? God has written the truth of His existence on our hearts. Every person, when shown what they have done wrong, will feel the guilt in their conscience of the knowledge that they have sinned. Our own hearts condemn us because God cannot be denied.
Our sin, my sin, is against God. A perfect, Righteous, Eternal, God created me. I did not deserve to live. He gifted life to me out of his kindness and mercy; that I might live forever with him in perfect harmony. My sin destroyed that eternal plan, and I alone bear the responsibility. We each do. We all owe God an eternal debt as the Just punishment of our crimes against a perfect and innocent God. There are only two choices.
Choice one, harden your heart. You probably don’t want to believe all this religious nonsense anyway. Just push back that instinctual guilt or try to ignore it until that fateful day when your circle is broken and you find out first hand where you will spend eternity.
Choice two. Acknowledge that you are a sinner, a criminal that deserves the punishment God has decreed. Humble yourself, and accept the glorious truth that Jesus came to pay that debt for you.
You see only an eternal and innocent being could pay the debt for someone else, otherwise He would only be accepting the punishment he deserved. But Jesus did not deserve to die. He was the one man who has ever lived who walked perfectly and did not sin. He agreed to suffer so that we could ask him to pay our debt for us, and thus reconcile us to God. If you can embrace this truth, accept it into the depths of your soul, it will change your life.
Beyond that, some day you will die. Or perhaps first it will be someone close to you. But for those of us who have truly and irrevocably accepted Christ sacrifice, death is not the grim reaper heralding us towards a dark and terrible fate. No it is a hard but necessary transition, where we cast off the trials and troubles of this life and step into an eternity of fellowship with our creator. And at that point we may cry for our loss, but we will have Joy in our hearts for what is to come.
Please take a moment with me, for some sober minded reflection. If you haven’t made your choice, do not wait! Now is the time for choosing, tomorrow may be too late. If you are already a brother in Christ, then please join me in praying for this family, that those who remain might turn to God and perhaps the end of one man’s life may be the catalyst that saves others from eternal judgment." by, Sage Anthony
Titus 2:11 ESV
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