Have you ever ridden in a car through fog so dense you could only see a few feet in front of you? I have and it’s quite frightening. When I was working for a large company, I was involved in establishing new factories and production lines in Puerto Rico, a distance of about three thousand miles from our company. So I made quite a few flights back and forth to the island. On the days we were to return home, many times we would work all day and catch the evening flights home.
On one such trip home when we reached the mainland of the United States, we heard that a dense fog had covered the southeast and central states, and that our destination, Chicago, was “socked in.” That meant no planes could land and no planes could depart! As we headed towards Chicago, the pilot radioed ahead to all airports that could handle a wide-body jet - Atlanta, Knoxville, Louisville, St. Louis, Indianapolis and others - but all those airports had the same problem - dense fog! Here we were stranded, not in an airport, but in the air with no place to go, and the plane was running low on fuel!
Finally we were given permission to land at Minneapolis, four hundred miles beyond our destination. We landed with good night vision and sat on the holding area for two hours before the pilot got clearance to fly to Chicago. The fog had lifted just enough to allow us to land. As the wheels touched down on the runway, cheers went up from the passengers. “Then they are glad because . . . He [the Lord] bringeth them unto their desired haven” (Psalm 107:30). I wonder how many prayers went up to the Lord that night.
I have likened that adventure to men, women, boys and girls who are trying to penetrate the fog in their minds as to how to get to heaven. “The god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Some think that doing good works will save them from their sins or at least balance them out. But Ephesians 2:89 tells us differently: “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Giving money to help the needy will not save a person from their sins either. In Acts 8:1823, a man named Simon saw that Peter and John could give a person the Holy Spirit by laying their hands on the person, and he wanted this power and offered them money. But Peter said to him, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.”
Putting off the matter of your sins until later is dangerous. I saw a bumper sticker which stated, “A PERSON WHO IS WAITING FOR AN 11TH-HOUR CONVERSION MAY DIE AT 10:30!” James 5:8 warns, “The coming of the Lord [draws] nigh.” If our pilot had said, “I believe I’ll just circle Chicago until the fog clears,” he most certainly would have run out of fuel. But instead, he headed for the nearest clear airport and waited until he got the call to go to Chicago. So Christians have been waiting for nearly two thousand years for that call to go to their heavenly home. The last promise in the Word of God is the Lord Jesus saying, “Surely I come quickly” (Revelation 22:20). He could come today!
Do not put off accepting the Lord Jesus’ invitation any longer. He is saying, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Confess to Him that you are a sinner and believe that Jesus bore your “sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). Once you do that, you’ve got clearance for a safe landing in heaven.
ML-12/08/2002