“just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,..” Hebrews 9:27
My truck is in the hospital, and being down to 1 vehicle, I have been taking my wife to work each morning. Since her work is not far from the Beach, I headed there to just spend a little time with God and to think. Far across the parking lot, I saw a man setting on a bench…smoking. What happened next made me think!
A woman, maybe in her late 50’s, came jogging by carrying a bottle of water. I watched as she, staying on the path, came upon the man. As she dodged as far as she could from him, I watched her head as she gave a quick ‘ick’ nod in disgust. It was OBVIOUS she not only didn’t approve, but judged the man’s behavior to be disgusting! Which made me think about, what THEY were thinking about!
Today’s verse is one that is easily misinterpreted. Sometimes it is used as a kind of an appointment prediction! When news of a death comes, some say, “it must have been his ‘time.’” As if God sits in Heaven with a stopwatch and a finger on a death button! When I saw the 2 people in front of me, this verse came to mind. Which was kind of funny to me because…I wondered if EITHER of them had even given ‘death’ a thought!
EVERYBODY DIES! It’s a statistical fact that is indisputable, yet rarely considered. Death has a 100% success ratio. Which SHOULD be rather convincing to EVERYONE. With such an evil winning streak, you’d think people would be thinking about it a LOT! But no! Getting into the woman’s head, I could almost hear her thinking, “that guy’s stupid, unhealthy and killing himself!” All the while she must have been thinking SHE was outrunning Dr. Death herself!
Yesterday, I spoke to a man who HAD been a Church guy for years. Being who I am, I brought up my favorite person…Jesus! When I questioned him about HIS ultimate destination after death, He replied, “I don’t want to talk about it!” There must be something in the air, because he was the 2nd elderly person I met this week who held a grudge against Jesus, simply because of the way ‘CHURCH PEOPLE’ had mistreated them. In BOTH cases, stinkin’ thinkin’ was CLEARLY the winner!
It is the Lenten season. As we approach Easter, the subject and thought of everyone should CLEARLY be about DEATH! It was not only a major topic of discussion for Jesus, it was the REASON He CAME HERE in the first place…to DIE so that I could LIVE. Sadly, most don’t give as much thought as they should to the subject of termination and ‘what then?”
Eternity is a LONGGGGGG time. In fact, 50, 60, 70 or 80 years is a tick of a clock when compared to it! To be honest, whether I use that time to jog or smoke doesn’t really matter. In the end, Death wins. Unless one has Jesus, that is. Me? I just smiled and enjoyed the morning. Because I don’t care! You see, I know Jesus. He is right here with me making me think! And He will be there when I go! No sweat!
