Glad you are here. I hope your visit will be one that when you leave, youwill say, “Boy, I’m glad I stopped by here.”
I’m now seventy years old, and I want you to see a statement that is true,and one we don’t give much consideration to as we journey through this life.It is one that each one of us must face when we come to the end of this life’sjourney. My purpose for writing this is to encourage those who have nevergiven it much thought, to consider making a choice now while there is stilltime to do so. The statement reads as follows:
THE END OF YOUR LIFE, IS NOT THE END OF YOUR LIFE.
All of us have found that life is full of choices. Almost every way we turn,we are having to make a choice. Some of the things we choose is what jobvocation shall I choose? Do we marry now or wait till we think it is theright time? What kind of house can we afford? All are choices we have tomake as we journey through this life.
All your life you’ve heard the old saying that two things are definitelygoing to happen in your lifetime. Death and taxes. I’m sure at sometime alongthe way, all of us have experienced the loss of a loved one. A father ormother, a sister or brother or maybe a friend or teacher with whom we thoughtvery highly. It is a fact that taxes are still around and going higher. Youand I are still around and still making those choices day after day. Oneof the GREATEST!!! choices anyone will ever make will be the choice thatwill determine his or her eternal destiny. Everyone who has ever been bornwill spend eternity somewhere. The GREATEST!!! choice a person can make ischoosing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. My friend, when you do that youreternal destiny is already settled. No one can make the choice for you, itmust be a personal choice of your own choosing. For those who reject him,all eternal damnation will be passed upon them. I was there before I foundthe Lord. You see, I was already spiritually dead before I found Christ.I had nothing to look forward to before, but now, I have everything to lookforward to.
Before I accepted Christ, I had the feeling I was not good enough to evengo to church. I was trying to find peace and happiness in the things aroundme. Little did I know then that there was an evil force working against me.Satin, the prince of this world, according to the bible, was throwing hisinfluence in my direction, and I was eating it up. I was trying to thriveon the pleasures around me and find my happiness in them. I want to tellyou, I was one miserable human being.
One Sunday, about forty six years ago, my mother, who never missed a churchservice unless she didn’t have a way to get there, asked me that Sunday totake her. Like any other son, who loved his mother, I took her. The peopleseemed to be in a joyful mood that day, singing, praising, praying and listeningto the preacher read out of the bible. When he finished reading the scriptures,he began to explain what the scriptures were saying. He said to rememberthat all scripture was inspired by God and given to certain people down throughthe ages to write it down as God impressed it upon their minds. What is writtenin the scriptures is the only perfect truth that can be found in the worldtoday. You see, God is the author and God is love and God is truth. It isstill the most sought after book, selling more copies each year than anyother book. Why? People are searching for truth. Kings and Emporers havetried to destroy the bible, so they could control the minds of the people.But the truth keeps marching on. God himself said that this world may passaway, but my word shall never pass away.
Then the preacher began to tell how that Jesus Christ, the only begottenSon of God, took my sins, and your sins and the sins of the whole human raceupon himself and shed his precious blood and died for everyone of those sinspast, present and future, that we might live. You see, it took the sacrificeof one who never knew any kind of sin. He was perfect in every way, and theblood that flowed through the veins of Jesus Christ was pure, not a blemishwas found in him, and he was the only one worthy to be the sacrificial lambof God. Jesus is sometimes called the lamb of God that takes away the sinof the world. He paid yours and my sin debt in full that day on the cross.
In God the Father’s eyes, we were justified as though we had never sinned.Why? Jesus took upon himself the sin debt of every person who has ever livedand paid their sin debt in full. There is nothing we can do to earn salvationin our own ways. You can’t be good enough, thinking your goodness will cancelout the sins you have committed.When God, in eternity past, knew that oneday, the blood of his son would flow from Calvary’s cross, that this wouldallow him to extend his grace down to fallen man. Now man has a chance toescape his downridden condition, and when he hears the gospel taught andhis faith is built up to the point that he can believe, then God’s graceand man’s faith meet there at the cross through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not ofyourselves: it is the gift of God: v.9 Not of works lest any man should boast.
I felt so bad before I heard that because I thought I had sinned againstGod so much that there wasn’t a chance for me to even make a choice aboutJesus Christ. I thought I had already lost it. When I heard that my sinswere not the issue in this life, then what is the issue I asked? JESUS CHRIST!!!IS THE ISSUE. The choice we make about Jesus Christ will determine our eternaldestiny. Not only that, but choosing Christ brings the Holy Spirit into yourlife and helps you deal with your sins. Choosing Christ allows the Holy Spiritto put a seal around you that even Satin himself can’t break. You are sealedforever. One of the more familiar scriptures in the bible is John 3:16. ForGod so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoeverbelieveth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. V.17 For Godsent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the worldthrough him might be saved. V>18 He that believeth on him is not condemned:but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believedin the name of the only begotten Son of God. It was the latter part of v.18that pointed out my condition as it pertained to Christ. I was already condemned,because I had not made that choice about accepting Christ.
There was no hesitation on my part. At the end of the service I didn’t knowexactly what I must do to be saved, but I said in my own mind, Lord, I’mnot much and I have nothing to offer to you but my faith in Jesus Christ.I believe he is who he said he is, and I believe he did what he said he woulddo, when he died for me on the cross that day and paid my sin debt in full.I choose you to be the Lord of my life, and depend on you to guide me inthe right way. Well my friend, he changed my life that day. The things Iused to do, I didn’t care to do anymore. I can’t answer why the change cameso fast, but I would like to think that Christ loosed the bond that Satinhad on me. Everyday I live now is the best day of my life. I want to knowmore and more about Christ, and I am learning more about him. I can teachothers about him now and how he can change their lives just like he changedmine back there in that little country church, the Sunday I took my motherto church.
Some two years later, I was visiting my mother, and we were discussing thatday I accepted Christ. The conversation included the war years when me andmy brother were both serving in the US Navy. He was the bombardier on a USNavy B25 plane. My mother told us that she prayed for us everyday duringthose war years. I asked her, “Mom, do you remember what time of the dayit was when you prayed?” She was always an early riser from bed each morning,and she replied, “Every morning about dawn, and every night about dusk.”Well my mind wandered back to those Kamikaze attacks which happened at aboutthe same time. I believe it was the prayers of a Godly mother, that broughther two boys home, and gave them the opportunity to both hear the gospel,and to choose Christ as their Lord and Savior.
I finally found that peace and happiness I was searching for. It was thegreatest choice I ever made, or ever will make in this lifetime. If you havenot chosen him as your Lord and Savior, you can do that right now. Just thinka simple prayer in your mind, much like I did, and he knows your heart, andyou can be saved. Then go to a bible believing church next Sunday and getstarted in learning more about Christ. Talk to the pastor, and tell him aboutyour decision, and he can get you started in a bible study class with peoplein your same age group. You’ll be the winner and your eternal destiny willbe settled.
Let me leave you with these verses which have meant so much in my daily living:Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto your understanding.In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. Prov.3:5-6
I would so love to hear from you. You can e-mail me with any questions orcomments you might have, and I will be prompt to reply. Thanks for spendingthis time with me, and may God bless you as we make our choices from dayto day. Remember,
THE END OF YOUR LIFE, IS NOT THE END OF YOUR LIFE