Urgency!

With disaster striking in Haiti it makes me think about the fact that God could destroy this earth at any given second of any given day. In fact, we know that this is His plan for the world because he tells us so in scripture.

But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the
heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves
will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to
deserve judgment. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed
like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the
day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire,
and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to
the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s
righteousness.
And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for
these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that
are pure and blameless in his sight.
And remember, the Lord’s
patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul
also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him
-2 Peter 3:10-15

(Matthew 24 is another good reference)


I could go in so many directions with this thought but the direction I want to head in is about the urgency to tell EVERYONE about Jesus. And I don't mean ask people if they believe in God, because just believing in God or a god isn't enough. Let me say that again, I don't mean ask people if they believe in God, because just believing in God or a god is not enough. Society seems to be content with acknowledging (or not acknowledging) that there is a God. I thought that way too before someone actually took the time to share with me the Good News of the gospel and how Christ wants a relationship with us.
First I must ask you, for what purpose do you think the Bible was written? For a good bedtime story? Before I decided to follow Christ I had heard verses from the Bible at my old-fashioned boring church, and the pastor might as well have been speaking a different language because those verses, that scripture stuff, it made no sense nor impact on me whatsoever. And what about this Jesus guy? I mean that was pretty nice of him to come and die on the cross, but what exactly makes that so important? I'm not going to lie, I really didn't give any attention to the Bible or Jesus before I accepted Jesus as my Savior.
Before I decided to accept Christ my life was fine, I did whatever made me happy and that was that. I never thought much about dying or the end of the earth, because I figured when the time came for that I knew there was a God so I was going to Heaven. And I don't know about you but I know a lot of people who seem to express a similar view.
Here's the deal:

• The Bible is not just a book filled with jibberish that only special pastors and Jesus freaks can understand. The Bible was created to paint a picture of who God is and most importantly to tell us about Jesus- God's one and only Son, who descended to this earth, born of a human mother, lived a perfect life, and died for us sinners as a sacrifice so that we may receive eternal life.
• Jesus. Do you think Jesus wanted to die? Do you think it was easy for him to endure all the pain and suffering He was put through? Do you think that just because Jesus is a part of God that He had it made during his time on earth? ...No! The thing is, God loves us so much that he sent Jesus so that we could be united with him, our Father in Heaven.

God wants to be apart of our lives. God doesn't want to be a distant God, He wants to be right there beside us in all that we do. By accepting what Jesus has done for us makes a relationship with God possible. What is important to understand is that you don't have to stop drinking, stop having sex with your boyfriend or girlfriend, ditch all of your friends, stop swearing or stealing or lying or cheating before you have a relationship with God. We are all sinners, and God takes us how we are and transforms our hearts and our lives. We leave the work to God and the Holy Spirit who resides within us, and it's amazing to see what the result is.
I accepted Christ as my Savior on November 23, 2008. Now when are you? And if you've accepted Christ already, when are you going to tell your friends and family about Him, when it's too late?