"Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."" Luke 23:43
Our family loves finding a good deal at a yard sale. The closer we get to spring, the more antsy I get for a nice Saturday morning ride through all of the area subdivisions where the best yard sales are generally located. You can really find some great deals going through people's junk!
Some years ago, my kids picked up one of those 500 piece puzzles at a yard sale -- you know, the ones that you typically get halfway done with and then lose interest because it's much more time consuming than you ever imagined! Anyways, I was actually were impressed by our dedication to see it through.
However, I was devastated to discover that only 494 pieces appeared to be in the box. You can only come to such a precise conclusion by coming to the end of the feat and being able to count the holes that were left in the beautiful picture of a scenic landscape, which now more resembles Swiss cheese than anything else.
I began to think about how closely this relates to life. I've seen some wonderful people navigate through their years on this earth with obvious holes invading their life. From a distance, everything seems to be perfectly fine. But when you get closer and get to know them better, you can better see which pieces of their puzzle are missing.
Here are a few of the unfortunate missing pieces I've observed in people's lives:
A Relationship with the Lord
The great thing is that we serve a God who doesn't discriminate against someone based on their age! His arms are open and extended to anyone who calls on His Name, even if it's on their deathbed.
Can I tell you the good side and the down side of a deathbed profession of faith?
The good thing is the obvious. That person inherits eternal life in Heaven and when they die, they will be ushered into the presence of the Lord, just as if they had been saved for fifty years!
The down side is this. They have missed out on the beautiful blessing of having a relationship with the Lord while they were alive and well. Their salvation is secure, but salvation is only part of the gift. Going through life with God on your side is the other.
We see this played out perfectly when Jesus is on the cross and is being taunted by one of the robbers on the cross beside Him. He tells Jesus to prove who He is by saving Himself and the two of them, too. The other robber questioned whether or not he feared God because he knew that the two of them deserved to be hanging there because they were guilty of their crime, but Jesus however was innocent.
Because of that man's deathbed statement of faith in Christ, he was promised an eternity in Heaven by none other than Jesus Christ Himself. He was probably merely hours away from seeing the gates of Hell, but within an instant, his eternity changed.
Isn't that great? The only thing that would have been greater is if he would have had the joy of knowing Jesus in a personal way because of a relationship with him prior to his final moments on earth.
Friends, if we have people in our lives that are lost, don't wait for the possibility that they can turn things around right before it's too late. Be urgent, be bold, and be diligent to share Jesus with them today.
A relationship with Jesus is the most important piece of the puzzle.
Our family loves finding a good deal at a yard sale. The closer we get to spring, the more antsy I get for a nice Saturday morning ride through all of the area subdivisions where the best yard sales are generally located. You can really find some great deals going through people's junk!
Some years ago, my kids picked up one of those 500 piece puzzles at a yard sale -- you know, the ones that you typically get halfway done with and then lose interest because it's much more time consuming than you ever imagined! Anyways, I was actually were impressed by our dedication to see it through.
However, I was devastated to discover that only 494 pieces appeared to be in the box. You can only come to such a precise conclusion by coming to the end of the feat and being able to count the holes that were left in the beautiful picture of a scenic landscape, which now more resembles Swiss cheese than anything else.
I began to think about how closely this relates to life. I've seen some wonderful people navigate through their years on this earth with obvious holes invading their life. From a distance, everything seems to be perfectly fine. But when you get closer and get to know them better, you can better see which pieces of their puzzle are missing.
Here are a few of the unfortunate missing pieces I've observed in people's lives:
- Commitment to their family
- Contentment in their career
- Love, rather than hate
- Peace, rather than anger
- Fulfillment, rather than regret
A Relationship with the Lord
The great thing is that we serve a God who doesn't discriminate against someone based on their age! His arms are open and extended to anyone who calls on His Name, even if it's on their deathbed.
Can I tell you the good side and the down side of a deathbed profession of faith?
The good thing is the obvious. That person inherits eternal life in Heaven and when they die, they will be ushered into the presence of the Lord, just as if they had been saved for fifty years!
The down side is this. They have missed out on the beautiful blessing of having a relationship with the Lord while they were alive and well. Their salvation is secure, but salvation is only part of the gift. Going through life with God on your side is the other.
We see this played out perfectly when Jesus is on the cross and is being taunted by one of the robbers on the cross beside Him. He tells Jesus to prove who He is by saving Himself and the two of them, too. The other robber questioned whether or not he feared God because he knew that the two of them deserved to be hanging there because they were guilty of their crime, but Jesus however was innocent.
Because of that man's deathbed statement of faith in Christ, he was promised an eternity in Heaven by none other than Jesus Christ Himself. He was probably merely hours away from seeing the gates of Hell, but within an instant, his eternity changed.
Isn't that great? The only thing that would have been greater is if he would have had the joy of knowing Jesus in a personal way because of a relationship with him prior to his final moments on earth.
Friends, if we have people in our lives that are lost, don't wait for the possibility that they can turn things around right before it's too late. Be urgent, be bold, and be diligent to share Jesus with them today.
A relationship with Jesus is the most important piece of the puzzle.
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