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...the Bible tells me so:
Preparing to Meet God
“Now I lay me down to sleep.
“I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
“If I die before I wake,
“I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
So goes the popular children’s bedtime
prayer. When the
While the
tragedy of September 11 was nothing short of a massacre, I cried the most as I
watched the twin towers of the
About six thousand people woke up that fateful Tuesday morning, some thinking about business, some thinking about travel, some thinking about family. Little did they suspect the evil intent of nineteen wicked men.
Had those innocent people made plans for the day, for the week, for the month or for the year? Were they looking forward to an invigorating work-schedule? Were they anxious about some recreational time? Were they eager to spend time with spouses, children, parents, brothers or sisters, or dear friends?
Some were engaging in decades of routine. Others thought that they were beginning a brand new routine. All of that changed in an instant.
Maybe you are saying to yourself, “That’s not me. I’m safe here in Sealy.” I agree somewhat, though murder and mayhem are only fifty miles away and moving closer every day.
Who wakes up
one morning with a cold, thinking that they only have a few months to receive
life-saving treatment for a quickly-spreading leukemia? Who wakes up one
morning to travel to
Funeral notices “litter” our grocery stores, our drug stores and our convenience stores. Obituaries fill our newspapers. Both sexes, all ages, all races and every economic status are present. No one is immune.
God teaches us very graphically that death is a reality of life. Formerly, I assisted families in preparing for their funerals. (I still encourage people to do so with their local funeral director.) Now, I assist families in preparing to meet God.
Prayerfully consider the following verses on the brevity of life:
· “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ ” (James 4:13-15; see Luke 12:13-21)
· “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts.” (Psalm 103:13-18; see 102:3)
· “Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created all men! What man can live and not see death, or save himself from the power of the grave?” (Psalm 89:47-48)
· “You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning—though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.” (Psalm 90:5-6)
How will my life change, when I remember that I may not live to see tomorrow? How interested will I become in what God says, knowing that no one, including me, is too young to die?
I must prepare to meet God, no matter what stage of life that I am in. If I am young, I must prepare to meet God. If I am middle-aged, I must prepare to meet God. If I am elderly, I must prepare to meet God.
Getting ready to meet God means getting ready to face His judgment. Take into account the following verses:
· “So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:9-10; see Romans 14:10-12)
· “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” (Hebrews 9:27-28)
God wants to save us all (1 Timothy 2:4). He does not want anyone to perish eternally (2 Peter 3:9). He sent His Son to save the world (John 3:17).
Our prayer, then, needs to be the same as Moses’ prayer: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) By realizing how short our lives are, we can gain that “heart of wisdom,” that is, that we will place our complete trust in God’s promises and completely obey His will. Only then can we say with the apostle Paul, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8)
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