Are you ready to meet your maker? If tomorrow was the last day of your life on earth, would you be ready to stand before God and be held to account? None of us are guaranteed a healthy golden age after our careers are complete, yet most people save for retirement. Every one of us will one day stop breathing and enter the afterlife. How many of us prepare for it?
The Bible says, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement,” Hebrews 9:27. Death is unavoidable. Each and every day someone close to us dies. Perhaps a grandparent, a parent, a brother or sister, or a neighbor. Perhaps someone famous or someone not well known that crossed your path yesterday. Perhaps it was in an accident, or from a disease or simply old age. Maybe they were just a child. Everyday there are funerals because mankind has no control over death.
Death is an uncomfortable subject and most would rather not think about it or talk about it. Some live their lives recklessly as if death cannot touch them and others prefer to remain ignorant and in doing so they suppress the truth that humanity has known for millennia. Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Mathew 7:13-14. Jesus was speaking of an entrance, not an exit. He was speaking of a beginning, not an end.
In Mathew 6:19-21, Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The eternal nature of this statement implies we will benefit from heavenly treasures which means we should aim for more than just squeezing in the gate. We ought to aim higher than the lowest hanging fruit. The risk of missing the target is greatest when the margin for error is the widest.
When your life on earth is over and you stand before the throne of God, how will you feel? Will you be ashamed of your deeds? Will the things you did in the privacy of your room stand as glaring examples of the true you, that lived a certain way in public and a different way in private? Did you profess to be a Christian on Sundays and cheat on your spouse on weeknights? Or hold a public office and boast of virtuous accomplishments while you secretly embezzled people’s savings? Did you lie on your tax returns or commit perjury in a court of law? Luke 8:17 reminds us, “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.”
The Bible says a double minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). And John wrote in his first epistle, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:15-17.
Jesus Christ drew a line in the sand. He said, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Luke 16:13. There are a great number of theologians and church leaders today that are trying to bridge this gap in their teachings, claiming you are saved by grace therefore repentance of sin is unnecessary. That being a Christian empowers you to call on God to serve you with your best life now and that Christians with a strong faith will accumulate wealth.
Popular Christianity is most often nonbiblical and biblical Christianity is not popular. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Mathew 7:21-23.
Many who preach the gospel of repentance are often chastised for making salvation sound difficult or unappealing, by those who say God is love and we are saved by grace and only grace. However, this fallacy is not only unbiblical, it is misleading and diminishes the sacrifice of Christ on the cross at Calvary. We need look no further than John 3:16-18 to realize that it is our faith and belief in the name of Jesus that appropriates grace. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only son.” Clearly, salvation is contingent upon belief, and belief without repentance is insincere, hypocritical and unsustainable.
I am not advocating salvation by works because salvation by works is humanly impossible. Grace, while offered to everyone can only be received when the believer demonstrates the sincerity of their faith through repentance. Faith without works is dead (James 14-26). It is counterfeit. We are called into a relationship with Christ and that relationship must be the center of our lives. We cannot assume because we prayed a little prayer and asked Jesus into our hearts, then went on about our business as we always have, that we are saved. Jesus said, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Luke 6:46.
1 John 3:6 reads, “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” Knowing Jesus and having Jesus know you requires strenuous faith. It requires pursuing Christ every day and in every way so that you not only get his attention, you get in his attention. Relationships require work and communication. People who identify as Christians yet never pray, worship or meditate on God’s word place themselves at a huge disadvantage and risk losing their very souls since their salvation is based upon faith and their faith is as cold as ice without them actively fanning its flames.
Knowing that Jesus paid for your sins is one thing but having a burning faith in that redemption is quite another. In order for Christ’s payment for sin to be applied to your personal ledger sheet, you must truly and sincerely believe. Your repentance of sin and renouncing of your former ways is your signature upon your faith and what being born again means. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3.
When true believers stand before God and are judged, the bible says our sins will not count against us because they have already been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19). The debt we owe for sinning against God was paid for by Jesus on the cross. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1. But those who don’t wholeheartedly believe are not “in Christ.” Those that did not completely surrender themselves to Christ, were insincere in their faith and continued living sinful lives are not true believers.
How solid is your faith? A half-hearted faith is not a genuine faith. A faith that is not genuine is a counterfeit faith. Are you confident that your relationship with Jesus is sincere enough that if you were to leave this world tomorrow, he would smile, point and say, “I know you! I’ve been waiting for you!” If you are unsure about this, I urge you to start living for Jesus right now. May he be a lamp for your feet and a light for your path.
Everything in this transient world is temporal. Today, we are surrounded by signs that confirm prophesy is being fulfilled and testify that God will not wait much longer to judge the world. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.
None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. Have you diligently prepared for everything else in life but neglected your eternal circumstances? If there is anything that causes you apprehension about meeting God, address it right away. Now is the time of your salvation! Don’t let another minute pass without repenting of all sin and sincerely believing that Christ has paid for your sins. Then follow Jesus and become a doer of his word.
When you step into eternity what will you say? In the words of the song I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me, “Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing hallelujah? Will I be able to speak at all?
