This is a very difficult question to answer unless you are a convicted criminal sentenced to death. As I was flipping channels on the television one day, I came across a program about trauma in the emergency room. It showed people with injuries sustained in car wrecks or some kind of accident being rushed to the hospital by ambulance or helicopter. With each one of these occurrences the situation was life threatening and only by the good work of doctors and by the grace of God did some of these people continue to experience life on earth.
Most people don’t understand that at any time their life can end. For those of us that know Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior this is not a problem because we understand that we have an eternal home in Heaven. What really bothers me is the ones that put off asking Christ into their heart have no idea where they are bound for when they die. For many people this is not a problem because they don’t believe in God and simply say when we die, we are buried and life as we know it is over.
According to the Bible when we die without Jesus we are bound for the lake of fire, known as Hades, Sheoul, Gehenna, or Hell. Not many people think that their last minute of earth could come quickly because everyone believes in tomorrow. Everyone wants to be around the next day and doesn’t think about their eternal home. All of us need to read the story told by Jesus in Luke 16:19-31. This is a story about the Rich Man and Lazarus and it tells that going to Hell is final, not reversible.
I have met many people in my lifetime who don’t believe that their final time on earth can be only seconds or minutes away. They tell me they believe in God but don’t want to make their commitment to him now because they want to continue their ways of the world. Jesus asks us to accept Him as the one and only God and believe in Him. He doesn’t say you have to change but once you do accept Him as your Lord and Savior, the world comes into view and you change because you want to follow Jesus instead of the world.
As I sat watching the story about the emergency room several were brought in to be cared for. One lady had a broken leg and cried out in pain for the doctors to do something for her. Another lady had a broken neck and couldn’t speak. Then there was an elderly man that had burns all over his back and was in agony. The show portrayed the doctors working hard and doing a very good job of handling the different problems. Fortunately for these patients, they all walked away or were carried back to their homes. Never once did I hear anyone cry out for God’s mercy but I am sure that television wouldn’t show it if they did. I also wondered if any of these patients were Christians and were not worried that this would be their time to expire from this earth.
Of all the agony and pain they were experiencing through their physical problems it doesn’t compare to what they are in store for should they die without knowing Jesus. Those waiting on tomorrow to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior need to understand that tomorrow never comes. For once the day we call tomorrow arrives, it is called today!
