Jesus Paid the Price

O
NE OF THE FONDER, YET STRANGER, memories of my childhood was attending a funeral where my Mom had been asked to sing. While it seems, in my mind, this was a very regular occurrence, the truth is, it may have only happened once, but either way, there was a distinct impression or two left burning in my mind. The one funeral I remember very well was for an elderly woman who I may or may not have known, but either way it didn’t matter; her death put into motion a plan for my life–in my mind the perfect plan. You see, she was very old and had died in a hospital, so, in my mind, she knew her death was coming, and since at that time I had never experienced anyone who was not elderly dying, I assumed this is just how it was–you get old, go to the hospital, and die. Well, that makes this whole living thing very easy for a child like me. You see, all you need to do is live your life however you want, have all kinds of fun, then when you go to the hospital to die, you ask God to forgive you and you go to heaven. What a great plan!
Okay, so I can hear you laughing now but not at me, rather with me, because I know many of you have thought the same way at one time or another. If only life were that simple. Yet even though we laugh at the thought of living life in that manner, there are many so-called mature adults out there who are living a life very similar to the one I described, some intentionally, some not so intentionally, yet both with the same outcome. Tomorrow, for many, has become the day the sinful behavior will end: tomorrow I’ll quit using drugs, tomorrow I’ll end the affair, tomorrow I’ll stop being rebellious toward my boss, tomorrow I’ll stop looking at porn, tomorrow I’ll stop doing that thing God has been convicting me of for so long. One problem among many with that thinking is we do not have the guarantee of tomorrow. Some would say, “But all of the prophecy has not been fulfilled, Jesus won’t return yet.”
Can I tell you something? My dad fell over dead at 50 in mid sentence of a conversation with his wife; he was with the Lord before his body hit the ground! Again I ask, “Do we have the guarantee of tomorrow or even our next breath?” The answer, of course, is a resounding ‘No!’ Obedience to what God has called you to do any time after that call is simply the end of disobedience–did you catch that? If God tells me to end a particular behavior or practice and I delay at all, I am not obeying Him when I quit, I am simply ending my disobedience. Ouch! By the way, don’t think this isn’t hitting home with me either. I’m just sharing with you the conviction God has shown me today–no perfection here.