Yesterday, in a quaint town in another state where friends of mine live, people went to buy their groceries and before they finished shopping they were dead.
Such heinous tragedies like these make us sick. Insane, demonically inspired murder is unthinkable to those of us who value life.
This morning as I consider the horrors of yesterday’s events, I am reminded again of the lesson we studied on Sunday in our class. It was a reminder from a text in Isaiah of how we all sin, we all miss the mark of perfection required for entry into the glorious place that Christ has prepared for His children in eternity.
The saddest thing imaginable for me would be that one of my friends or loved ones was suddenly face to face with God unprepared.
Dear, dear friend— you (we) cannot work our way to heaven. Scripture tells us that ALL of our good works are filthy rags. In other words, counting on them to balance the scales in our favor at the day of our judgment won’t work. We cannot be good enough or do good enough on our own.
But Jesus WAS good enough. In fact, He was perfect and in our place, He died as sin’s sacrifice. What is required then of us is placing our lives in His hands and our trust in His sufficiency to save us. We simply admit to The Lord that we are hopeless apart from His mercy, we confess and turn from our sin by His grace and enabling, and we live our lives from this day forward forgiven.
I can’t think of ANY good that could come from yesterday’s tragedy except for it serving as a wake up call to those who are far from God while imagining themselves to have plenty of time to change if they are ever so inclined.
We are not guaranteed our next breath. Young people die. Old people die. But those in Christ live forever in an indescribably amazing place called heaven where there are no more tears and no more sinful evils to mourn.
I love you too much not to share this, and I pray you’ll surrender your life to the One who loves you most today if you are not already a follower of Christ. God bless you my precious people. May His “Shalom” be your solace and comfort.
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Hebrews 3:15
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