Numbers 16:48
And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped.
We have a message to get out....
One that will give life....real life here and now.
A life that will extend far beyond the last breath.
I know...
I know...
it sounds all science fiction, doesn't it?
Talking about life that extends after death, but I just happen to believe that it is true.
How can I say that? Have I experienced it yet? Have I crossed over and then made the trip back to this side? No, I haven't. But I know that if my pitiful life can be changed by this force we call "God"....If my life can be turned around and then directed by Him...I don't really believe that He would take me to the end of my days and then say,"Just kidding...there is no "life after". You can say that I have faith....or I believe....or I'm crazy. I will bank everything on the simple fact that God is who He claims to be and will do what He claims to do.
So many I run in contact with do not believe either in God or any form of life after death.
"When you die, you die."
"Don't be a chump and buy this whole "heaven" thing!"
I had one man ask me, "What are you going to do when you die, you discover that everything you have believed is a joke. No heaven...no hell..nothing...that when you die, you simply die. It's over and there's nothing else." My reply to him was very simple. "What you are saying is 'won't I feel like a chump for believing in God?' Well, no I won't. If when I die, there is nothing else, I will die knowing that I have had an incredible life. I have seen things that most people will never see. I have experienced God on a level that was far beyond anything I could conjure up. I have been surrounded by some of the most incredible people ever. And I have felt that love of a woman that has been with me for 40 + years. I have watched my sons grow to be godly men and marry godly women. I have two incredible grand children who are growing up in the ways of God. So if I die and there is nothing else, then I do so a happy man." I then turned to the man and asked him a question. "What are you going to do, when you die and discover that everything I've told you about is true?" The choices you make on this side of eternity determine where you spend your eternity. This isn't some sort of crap shoot or dice game where you win. It is life and death on a spiritual level. Since we sin against an eternal God, then the consequences of our sin is eternal.
Very simple:
1.) All have sinned. More than this, we fall short of reaching God. No manner of intellect or talent will make up the distance between our fall and the eternal God. Without someone whose power and presence is greater than our own, we are hopelessly lost.
2.) The wages of our choices is death. Every wrong choice we make that is colored by our sin/appetite, drives us a little deeper into spiritual darkness. Wages are something you earn..you worked for them. You've got them coming to you. The death that I speak of isn't a physical death. We are all headed in that direction. Ever since you came out of your mother's womb and the doctor spanked your be-hind, the clock has been ticking. The death I'm talking about is a 2nd death. A spiritual death and separation from God and everything good. A separation that can never be broached. If you read Scripture, it doesn't sound like a place I would want to be in.
The funny part in all of this...We got ourselves into this mess, but it is the love of a God who is bigger than I can imagine that saves us. God reaches out to us. God bridges that gap between our sin and His forgiveness. He institutes the invitation for us to be saved and brought under His covering.
You may be wondering what the verse above has to do with anything in the blog today.
I look at recovery in this way. There is a divide between those who are living because they received healing and salvation from God....and those who are dying in the darkness of addiction, who refuse to receive this incredible gift from God Himself. Right there in the middle of that divide stands a cross. Oh, the cross has no power. It was merely a piece of wood used as an instrument of death. But the one who laid His back on that piece of wood and gave His blood and His life...that is a whole other story. This whole sin thing demands that a payment be made by the one who committed the sin. Jesus took my place. Jesus took your place and gave Himself in order to buy our salvation. Now He offers you this gift of life with Him. Life, here and now...and life after we die. It does sound a little like the Twilight Zone,doesn't it? But it's not. It's real. It's here. And it's now. What are you going to do with it? Receive? Or reject?
God on you....
mb
1 comment:
I work with a young woman who is like the man you talked of. She didn't want to be duped into believing something only to find out at the end there was nothing to it. I encouraged her to read the gospel of John.
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