2005-02-01 - I Have Good News...and Bad News

Encore 2002-02-19

Psalm 89:47,48 Remember what my span of life is; for what vanity You have created all the sons of men! What man can live and not see death?

So you go to the doctor, and he says, "I have good news and bad news. Let's start with the good news. You have 24-hours to live. The bad news is I got the test results back yesterday and forgot to call you."

Do you live as a 24-hour Christian? I mean, do you live as if you could be called home to Heaven in the next 24 hours? I know it is hard to live like that, but it is a reality for all of us. At any time, in the twinkling of an eye, our lives could be over. Snap the fingers, that's it, life ends - and we cross over to meet Christ. It is both a glorious thought and a scary thought at the same time. How could the world be the same and function without me? It will. How could things end so suddenly for me? They will. 24 hours: Maybe that is too much time for us to grant ourselves. Maybe we don't even have that much time left.

So how are you going to spend that time left? Be it 24 minutes, hours, days, years whatever, how would you live, if you really knew that time was so short? We would all live differently; that is for certain. But "pie in the sky" living does us little good today, right now. Today is the day to begin to live as a 24-hour Christian. Lord willing, we live with no reserve, no regret and no retreat. Our use of time is crucial in all of this. As 2 Corinthians 6:2 tell us, "now, now" is the time to prepare.

On any given day, it is hard enough to figure out what to have for dinner; nevermind contemplating the deep recesses of eternal life with Christ. We float through things so easily, but all these things we do count. There is no easy way to avoid the issue that what we do here on Earth matters. Salvation is all of Christ; no one would deny that. But there is still a sense in which we are responsible for how we conduct ourselves in Christ. In Christ, we have a moral, ethical and simply Christian duty to surrender all to His cause. We live not for ourselves, because we follow the example of Christ who lived not for Himself, but rather gave Himself up for us that we might have life. As saved in Christ, we now live 24/7 as servants of the great Servant.

So the ransomed of the Lord will return, and come with joyful shouting to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 51:11.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

tim@cfdevotionals.org
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