devotion

Have you ever said, "I'm going to live my life the way I want to now and give my life to the Lord later, after I have had my fun partying and clubbing." or "I've got plenty of time. I'll give my life to Jesus when I'm older." I used to think these same thoughts. That is until God showed me that I was not promised another breath. The Bible declares in Joshua 24:15, "...choose you this day whom ye will serve." and Jesus said in John 7:6, "My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready." Through the word, I learned that NOW is the time to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. NOW is the time to surrender my life totally and completely to Him and live according to His word. Jesus said in Mark 8:35-36, "For whosever will save his life shall lose it; but whosever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" It wasn't until the Holy Spirit explained these verses to me that I got the revelation of what Jesus was saying. If you keep or "save" your life (life of sin / disobedience to God's word), I would lose the eternal life in Heaven that Jesus had afforded me when He died on the cross and arose with all power. If I would give up or 'lose" my life and surrender it to Jesus, I would find eternal life and escape the death sentence of eternal damnation in Hell. The Bible says in Isaiah 55:6-7, "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." A friend of mine once told me that people have more faith and trust in their employers than they do in God. He said that when a person first hired, based on a verbal or written contract, the employee rests in the idea that if he works diligently for a week or two weeks and abides by the company rules provided for them in the handbook or manual, he will receive a paycheck (or reward) at the end of the time period. Then my friend told me to compare this to God and His word. The contract has been made and signed with the shed blood of Jesus. All we have to do is accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior (employer), live according to His word (abide by the company guidelines) and He will reward us (paycheck) with enternal life in Heaven.

My friend, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:2, "...behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." In Genesis 1:26 God said "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Based on this scripture we can conclude that if we are made in the image and likeness of God who is a spirit and who is eternal, then we must have a spirit and it must be eternal. Everyone will live forever. God allows us to choose where -- Heaven or Hell -- while we are on this earth. Dear friend, please take the time to ask yourself these questions:
                              1. "If I died today would I go to Heaven or Hell?"
                              2. "Have I given my life totally to Jesus and am I living according to His word?"
In John 14:6, Jesus said there is only one way to the Father and that is through Him. God has given me a burden to reach the lost, and He has shown me how precious He considers every soul to be. In 2 Peter 3:9, the Word says, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

It is evident that we are living in the last days, we must do what the Bible says in Ephesians 5:15-16, "See then that ye walk circumspectly [wisely], not as fools but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Even as Christians, we cannot just sit back and think that we are on easy street. The Bible says in Luke 21:36, "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man [Jesus]." You see my friend, the time will come when we all will stand before Jesus and He will say either "Well done thou good and faithful servant" or "I never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity." What will He say to you?
                                                                                                                        --Donald DuPree