Friday, September 7, 2007

Grief Over The Lost

My heart is breaking for the lost today. Let me explain what I mean by that. On the way to school today, Michael asked me if Casey, a 21 year old girl from a family at our church, was saved. See, she was killed earlier this year in a terrible car accident. I told him that, yes, she knew Jesus as her Savior and she is in heaven. Well, this led to Michael asking about other loved ones and their eternal destination. I had to answer, "I don't know" and "Probably not" to quite a few people we love dearly and Michael was so broken hearted. He started weeping. I told him, "Michael we should pray and ask God to open their hearts to recognize their need for Jesus." He couldn't even pray because of his tears. I covet his grief stricken state. As believers in Christ, we should all be deeply saddened by the thought that some of our closest friends and family could spend eternity separated from God. How long is eternity, exactly? I don't want to be where God isn't. Do you? I really don't think people understand what Jesus did for us so that we would not endure the punishment we, so rightfully, deserve. God's prerequisite for heaven is perfection. I'm not perfect. You? "God demonstrated His own love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)." See, the payment for our sin is the shedding of blood. Without it, there could be no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22). This means, that Jesus, being perfect in every way, offered His life as a perfect blood sacrifice for us. Nothing that we have done or can do will ever match up to His complete sacrifice. It's just like if you owe debt to a creditor and someone comes along and says, "I want to pay for your debt so you don't have to. Can I do that for you?" Let's say, debt collector's are calling day and night to try to get us to pay and we just don't have the money to do it. The debt is too high. Would you take someone up on the offer to pay it? You'd have to be crazy not to. Christ's sacrifice on Calvary's cross paid our debt. Our fine is settled if we accept it. First we have to admit that we even owe a debt. Our sin has separated us from God. That means that unless we take Jesus on his offer to cover our debt, we will never see God.
I pray this makes sense to those of you who have yet to believe. If we call, He WILL answer. "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord, will be saved (Romans 10:13)."
Pause my playlist before viewing the video.


A Salvation Prayer

2 comments:

CroppinRobin said...

beautiful post

Josh said...

It's so simple, a no-brainer, but I continually find myself so corrupted by the world, minimizing the need for Christ in people's lives . . . I suck at sharing Him. Thanks for reminding me what matters. I needed it.