Praying Pint

When you think about it, we live and act as if we are not going to die. Maybe when we are way older or have been diagnosed with a terminal illness we might concede that we are going to die. However, this is not the normal state of our minds. We leave the house in the morning and give no thought to “this might be the day I die”. How many people will die in road accidents today? Approximately 120 people die each day in traffic accidents, greater than 40,000/year. Unintentional death by falls has 44,000/yr. Unintentional death by Poisoning has 100,000/yr. In all there are close to 225,000 unintentional deaths caused by accidents each year. There were 21,000 murders/yr. 695,000 people die from heart disease/yr. 600,000 people die from Cancer/yr. 3,000 people/yr die from house fires. 108,000 people die/yr due to infectious diseases. Covid had a claim of 1,200,000 deaths. People die every day for a host of reasons and yet they give little thought that today might be the day they enter eternity. 

What happens when we die? The physical body perishes but the spirit of the person lives on. Whether a person wants to acknowledge it or not, there is life after death of the body. 

God’s Word is very clear on this. Every single person will be judged. They will stand before Jesus and every part of their life, thoughts, intentions, and actions will be judged in light of God’s Holiness. Good intentions will never make a person right in the sight of God. Acts of mercy, love, kindness, gentleness, generosity, etc…. will not mean a single thing if they are done apart for His glory and honor. 

We are going to die. It is a fact. We are going to be judged. It is a fact. No one is immune to death. It is a fact. It will claim every last person. It is a fact. Sin is what is judged by God. It is a fact. Sin is the natural intention of our soul and apart from God’s intervention, all would fall short of eternal life. It is a fact.

John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

We are one sickness, accident, or some other means away from death, condemnation, judgment, or eternal life. Without belief, repentance, trust, obedience, and reliance on Jesus Christ we are judged unworthy and guilty. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, born-again, a new creation, and will live forever throughout eternity with Him. The judgment our sins deserve is washed away and we are cleansed from it – forever. Yet, people deny God, judgment, sin, eternity, hell, and heaven, and reject His offer of salvation, redemption, and forgiveness. Or they think there is another way to achieve this. Their idea of a god or deity is a means to a “good” afterlife if they do enough good. Others deny there is anything after the body dies. They are one breath away from eternal judgment and eternal torment. More and more people feel free to proclaim that the idea of “God” and “Jesus Christ” are mythical at best.  They will say they are above believing in a God who allows, sickness, famines, earthquakes, storms, cancer, wars, etc….. They declare they will not believe in a God like this. They reject Him and the need for Him. There is no fear of Him or reverence for Him. They live for themselves and what they can accumulate from this world. They are boastful, arrogant, proud, liars, and envious of what this world has to offer, and they find it worthy to denounce God and anything to do with Him. 

Others will say I will wait for another day when scripture says, “Today is the day of salvation”. They wait, giving no thought to the fact today might be the day they die and they die to face eternal judgment and torment because of this delay. 

Death awaits every last one of us. It does not ask our permission or give us fair warning of its arrival. It comes and takes us when our time on earth is up. Scripture says we are to count our days. 

Psalms 90:12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. – “live them in light of God, who He is, what He commands; obedient, faithful, reliant, trusting, and loving to honor and glorify Jesus Christ”.

We fill our lives with things in and of this world that remove the thought about God, eternity, and judgment. We fill them with things that surely do not honor and glorify Jesus Christ. We go about our days eating, drinking, and working without a single thought of Jesus most days, let alone, the fact this could be our last day. 

Johnathon Edwards put it like this; “We hang over the pit of death by the finest thread of a spider web. It is but by the grace of God, this thread has not broken. Just because it has not broken does not mean it is strong or that it will hold for years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, or just a single second longer. It is only holding because God has allowed it to hold one more second.”

God is just, righteous, holy, and truthful, and everything He has inspired in the Bible is for the benefit of each person so that they might have a relationship with Him and live with Him for eternity in heaven. Denying He exists does not make it so. Denying the need for Jesus Christ does not make it so. Rejecting God and His offer of salvation through Jesus Christ will result in His righteous wrath and anger against all who have done so. 

Narrow is the gate that leads to eternal life and broad is the way to eternal destruction and torment.

Mat 7:13-14  “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it

Many will say, Lord Lord, Look what we have done in your name, but His response is depart from me for I know you not. 

Mat 7:21-23  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Science works hard to disprove God and His creation. What they can’t explain is covered over by the “Big Bang” theory and string theories to fill in the gaps. Man’s attempts at making sense of God’s Creation apart from God is foolishness to those who believe and worldly wisdom for those who do not. Think about it. People find it easier to believe that the origin of everything came about by a “Big Bang”. If there was nothing, where did the building blocks for the “Big Bang” originate? Something out of nothing is quite foolish. “Post” of the “Big Bang”, we have evolution. This now gives credit to “Nature” or “Natural Events” to occur, given enough time.  Just as the bible seems foolish to those who believe this so does this science to those who believe in God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God’s Word says that mankind is without excuse because God has placed within every heart a seed about Himself and nature proclaims God. 

Rom 1:18-32  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Joshua 24:15.   But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of this world in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

We live and we will die. Our eternal destiny is proclaimed and declared by God. Eternal Life or eternal destruction and torment are the choices. It is every single person’s intentional choice to choose while they live this side of eternity. 

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8

Romans 5:20-21  Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Most Christians know the story of the hymn “Amazing Grace.” The author was John Newton who was converted to Christ while engaged in the British slave trade in the eighteenth century. He went on to become a pastor and worked energetically to abolish the slave trade in England. Though his memory began to fail him in his final years, he was always clear about two things: “That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.”

Newton’s conviction—that God’s grace is greater than our sin—was probably based on Paul’s words in Romans 5:20: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” As he wrote in “Amazing Grace,” Newton considered himself a “wretch” for having trafficked in the buying and selling of fellow human beings. But he found God’s grace and forgiveness to be greater than his sin.

Regardless of what you may have done, never wonder if God’s grace is sufficient for you. God makes “all grace abound toward you” in “all things,” qualifying you for “every good work.”

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!
John Newton

A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel.
–Proverbs 1:5

God could write His will for you in the sky. But there are qualities He desires in your life that you develop in the process of discovering His will. By submitting to authority figures, you develop the quality of obedience. By seeking and evaluating the advice of wise counselors, you develop discernment. And by turning to fellow Christians, you develop dependence.

As you listen to these people, let me give you three things to keep in mind. First of all, don’t use wise counsel as a cop-out. For most people, the real problem is not discovering the will of God but doing the will of God. They keep asking for advice without ever making a decision. But there comes a time when you need to stop seeking advice and just do what you know you need to do.

Second, the counsel you receive may be wrong. That was true of the Israelites in Numbers 13. They sent twelve spies into the promised land to see if they could take possession of it, and the majority said, “The challenge is too great.” Only two spies said, “With God’s help, we can take possession of the land.” Many times, the counsel you receive will be wrong.

Finally, any counsel you receive must be measured against the Word of God. Sometimes people want a new revelation from God about a dilemma they’re facing when He has already addressed that issue. We see this in 1 Kings 13. God had told a prophet, in essence, “Go to Bethel and destroy a pagan altar. Then go directly home. Do not pass go; do not collect $200.”

This prophet was on his way home when an older prophet stopped him and invited him over for a meal. The younger prophet protested, but the older man said, “God has given me a newer revelation than what He told you.” So instead of going directly home, as God had told him, the younger prophet went to the older prophet’s home. Look at what happened next: “The word of the Lord came to the [older prophet]; and he cried to the [younger prophet], saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Because you have disobeyed the command of the Lord, . . . your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers”’ (vv. 20–22). And when the younger prophet left to go home, verse 24 says, “a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown on the road.”

What’s the point of this bizarre story? God was teaching us that we are never to contradict what He has already clearly spoken. If somebody is counseling you to do something that violates the Word of God, don’t follow their advice. All counsel must be measured against the Word of God.

Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.
Romans 12:11

The word diligent means to pursue something with keen attention and effort. It’s a word that often appears in God’s Word. We’re to “diligently” heed Scripture and do what’s right in His sight (Exodus 15:26); we must keep His precepts diligently (Psalm 119:4). Paul wrote, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed” (2 Timothy 2:15). Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”

Peter used this word twice in the first chapter of his second letter. In verse 5, he told us to diligently add virtue to our faith, and knowledge to our virtue. And in verse 10, he said, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure.” (Jeremiah)

Thoroughness,  constancy, perseverance, persistence, zealousness, dedication, commitment; hard work, effort, concentration, care, and attention all describe the intent of the word “diligence”.  

When you examine your life and how you are living for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ, do these words describe your effort toward that goal? Have the things of this world captured more of your life than living it for Jesus Christ’s honor and glory? We are to be in this world but not consumed by it or allow ourselves to be sucked into the vortex of what it deems as worthwhile and important.

When you lay your head on your pillow tonight give some thought to how you are living for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. Think about what is influencing what you do and what consumes your thoughts and actions. If you realize that this world has blinded your eyes and deafened you ears to things of God for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ, repent and determine to become diligent in your pursuit of living for Jesus Christ, studying God’s Word, and speaking light into a lost world without hope.

The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?
–Jeremiah 17:9

The Bible says our desires have been corrupted by sin. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” Perhaps the best diagnosis of the condition of our hearts comes from the apostle Paul. Quoting Psalm 14 and Psalm 53, he wrote, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one” (Romans 3:10–12). Pretty depressing. Paul said there is not one good person who roams the planet.

You might say, “Paul, aren’t you exaggerating just a little bit? What about all the people who volunteer at nursing homes or give to charity? How can you say no one does anything good?” These verses support what we call the doctrine of total depravity, the idea that humans are totally depraved apart from Christ. That doesn’t mean everybody is as bad as we possibly could be; it means sin has contaminated every part of our lives–our thoughts, our motives, and even our desires. Our desires have been corrupted by sin. (Jeffress)

We can easily do good things for the wrong motive or desire. Where is this desire and motivation to be found that is not encompassed with sinfulness? How can we examine our desires and motives? God’s Word! His Word says that everyone will be judged for their thoughts and intentions. We will stand exposed, without excuse, and judged in the light of God’s holiness. Every thought will be exposed. Every single intention will be exposed.  We are infected with sin and it permeates out of our hearts and minds. That’s pretty depressing! If it were not for Jesus Christ we would all be doomed.

It does us good to examine our desires and motives in the light of God’s Word. In His Word and through the filling of the Holy Spirit our desires will be illuminated and exposed for what they are. We can know and repent and seek to have right thoughts and intentions.

The place to start is to intentionally choose a life that is diligent and full of desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all thoughts, words, and actions every moment of every day.