My family and I really enjoy clementines, a very sweet little orange. We also enjoy sharing treats with our neighbors. It was no surprise to me, then, when one day my parents decided to take advantage of a sale on clementines and buy extra to share with our neighbors.
That Sunday afternoon, we started off down the street with clementines and Sunday school papers, like the one you are reading now. Most of the neighbors we knew quite well, but there was one married couple we didn’t know so well. The man was sitting outside in a wheelchair when we arrived and was happy to see us. He accepted the clementines gladly and asked about the paper that we were giving him. Dad explained and asked if the man would like my eight-year-old sister to read it aloud. He agreed and listened while she read it.
When she was finished, Dad talked more with the man about how every person alive has sinned and in so doing has earned God’s judgment. He explained that none of us can do anything to make peace with God about all of our sins. But then Dad shared the good news that we can be saved from what we deserve because of our sins, by turning away from them and believing in the work that Jesus did when He died on the cross and rose again. He told him that Jesus made peace with God for us by taking the punishment for our sins on Himself. Dad warned the man that it was important for him to choose whether he would accept or reject what Jesus did for him before it was too late.
The man listened and seemed to be thinking about what Dad was saying.
We certainly hope that he did not put off accepting the Lord Jesus as his Savior, because when we woke up the next morning, a fire truck and a police car were parked in front of his house. We later learned that he had died of a heart attack in the night.
When we talked with him that evening, he did not know that his life would be taken from him that very night. How sad it would be if he pushed the decision aside, planning to make it “tomorrow,” because “tomorrow” never came.
Have you ever stopped to think about the sins in your life and the fact that one day you will be responsible to bear the punishment for them, unless you believe that Jesus bore it for you? Jesus already died on the cross and rose again, so all you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved (see Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)). How horrible it would be for you to reject His love for you! Do not wait, because you do not know if you will have tomorrow. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”
(2 Corinthians 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2))
Messages of God’s Love 2/7//2021