One day, as I walked down the long driveway near my house, I enjoyed the beautiful flowers growing in a large garden off to the side. There were big pink “hibiscus” flowers, smaller orange Mexican sunflowers, and dainty yellow zinnias, all with different shades of green leaves, on a background of red-brown wood chips. I enjoyed the living bouquet that day as I walked past, but the beauty was not to last long. The next day when I walked past, there were no pretty colors to greet me. All of those flowers, which had been beautiful pink, orange, yellow, and green just the day before, had turned to an ugly brown. The once cheerful-looking plants were now wilted and not pleasant to see. A frost had come in the night.
Just as the frost came to my flowers, death is coming to each of us. The Bible tells us that no matter how full of life and beauty we are now, eventually we will all die. Man’s life is “as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass” (1 Peter 1:2424For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: (1 Peter 1:24)). We don’t know when our time will come. It could be many years from now, or it could be only minutes away.
When you die, will you be ready to face God? If not, the Bible tells us that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). After we die, God will judge each of us for every sin that we have committed. No one will be able to plead innocent, because we have all sinned (Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)); your conscience can tell you that. Because God is holy, He cannot ignore our sins and let us into heaven; sin must be punished. God’s punishment for sin is death—not just physical death, but eternal death in the lake of fire. However, because God is loving, He has also provided a way to escape.
God’s way for you to escape judgment was prepared long before you were born when He sent His Son Jesus to die on a cross. Jesus rose from the dead, after taking the punishment for sin, so that now all we have to do is turn to God and away from our sin, accepting the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. If you are not ready to meet God, then now is the time to prepare.
Messages of God’s Love 11/29/2020